It took me a while to figure out where this book was going. Once I understood the author’s purpose, I was able to better grasp the points that were being made.
Although this novel was suspenseful, as the cover states, I actually felt it was more a stinging indictment of the foster care system.
Large sections of the story were devoted to how the system failed Anna and Birdie. These were written with apparent agony and were very realistic.
As Anna’s past began to take shape, her choices became clearer. It soon became apparent that she did have an overall plan, but it didn’t crystalize until the very end.
In that regard, it was a good suspense novel, because it kept me guessing pretty much up until the last pages.
However, there were times that it felt unfocused. Anna would be in the present and then all of a sudden, she would start relating a memory of her sister.
I understand why the author chose this method of telling the story, because it put the reader into Anna’s mind and allowed the reader to cast the same doubt on Anna’s memories that other characters insinuated.
There were times that it was quite jarring, though, and more than once I had to stop reading and back up to re-read to make sure I understood what timeframe we were in.
There was also clever plotting in Anna’s choice of profession and the parallels between people in her life currently and who had influence over her in the past.
Some of the plot points required a leap of faith (would Guy be that quick to move the relationship forward, what was so mistrustful about Nancy or the social worker, etc.). But I was willing to ride along with the author to see where it all went.
There was also a connection that I did not put together and my jaw dropped at it – this is when everything picked up for me.
The second half of the book moved much faster as all of the pieces began to fall into place. While there were some dips in the action, overall, I would say this was a decent suspense story.
