Lost

I was very wary of this book, and I've had it on my shelf for ages. The reason why! Because it came as a freebie from Mills and Boon, so I immediately thought it would be a lovey dovey, soppy romance, and those books just aren't my thing. Then one day I was sorting out and I noticed on the front it said 'More Gripping Than Grisham', so I thought I'd give it a try.

~Synopsis~

The book begins with a short prologue, which describes Ricky Lang being somewhat vile toward his girlfriend, whilst at the same time having visions of his children, whom he can no longer see.

From there we skip to part one, which begins the story of Jane Hartley, who's a single mum, and a wedding dress designer. Jane has 16 year old daughter called Kelly, who as a child was in an out of hospital receiving treatment for cancer. Now on her way home from work Jane spies someone who looks distinctly like Kelly, riding on the back of a motorbike with no helmet on. Pulling alongside she realises it is Kelly and is horrified. when Kelly returns home that night, they discuss the risks Kelly was taking, and Kelly goes off to her room to think about what she did.

That is the last time Jane sees Kelly. The next day Kelly has gone out already, or so Jane thinks. Then she receives a call from Kelly, frightened and whispering that she needs help because she's made a big mistake. The line goes dead and Jane's nightmare begins.

The police put it down to Kelly being a runaway, and make all the right noises about how it'll turn out okay. But Jane is not convinced and hires ex FBI agent Randall Shane to help her find her daughter.

The search leads them to cross paths with Ricky Lang, and various other unsavoury characters.

~My Thoughts~

I have totally mixed feelings about this book. Some parts are very good, but some parts are clichéd and predictable. As with many books it is written from two perspectives. When Jane is at the forefront it is written in the first person, when Ricky is the main character it is written in the third person. That actually works well, until Jane occasionally starts 'talking' to the reader, rather than just tell her story. When she is talking to the reader, it makes it seem like the book is written by a 5 year old.

The characters are varied, and you can get a feel for them, enough to feel sorry for Jane, after all the heartache of having a child so ill, for them to disappear and the police not to care, you feel she deserves a bit of happiness.

Randall Shane is probably the least interesting character, he has some secrets he's keeping close to his chest (don't they all!), but I was never really that bothered, that I was rushing onward to find out what they were.

Ricky Lang, is the type of bad guy you don't even love to hate, you just hate. There are no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

As I said earlier the cover states that the book is 'More Gripping Than Grisham', now I would say it's more gripping than a entomology book by Gil Grissom (CSI-Vegas), but it's absolutely nowhere close to being in the same league as John Grisham. It's a bit like saying a local boys football club compares to Liverpool FC!

I have to say I'm a bit short on opinion here, but mainly because the book was just okay, nothing especially good, and nothing particularly bad.

Overall I would say it's a reasonable read, the type of thing you might take on holiday when you don't want anything that's going to tax your brain. But if you like depth, twist and turns, thought provoking novels, then give it a miss.