My misgivings about this novel occurred in the first few paragraphs. Could this character not simply have opened the window rather than “fumbled with the catch”? Could she not have walked across the room rather than “padded back to the bedroom”? Honestly, this kind of thing was enough to have me reconsidering whether I wanted to keep reading after about four pages. Anyway, I soldiered on and while I didn’t particularly like this book, it was okay.
Dee Sutherland is an Australian woman in Argentina, searching for her daughter who went missing four years earlier while on a backtracking trip. Dee has returned periodically to Argentina to continue the search. Finally, the authorities confirm that they are closing the case, as they are no closer to understanding what has happened to the missing girl. This is Dee’s story as she comes to terms with the choices that she has made throughout her life, her relationship to her husband and children, and the choices she has made between family and career. Anyway SOMETHING HAPPENS on this trip and Dee then pursues a new line of enquiry in trying to discover exactly what happened to her daughter.
If anyone were surprised by “the twist” in this novel, I would probably die laughing. At first, I didn’t even realise it was supposed to be a twist, and I actually had to thumb back through the novel as I thought it had already been disclosed. Nope, just super predictable. I think I kept reading because I did enjoy the descriptions of Buenos Aires and the countryside, but this is a superficial story. Maybe it would strike a chord with mothers who are conflicted about the choices they have made between family and career, but it left me unmoved.
Cannonball Read V 