Das war doch mal wirklich spannend! ( )

For the most part this was a great novel of suspense. Wasn't crazy about the end but overall a good read. ( )

DNF at 113 pages because I've renewed this book 8 times and I still can't motivate myself to finish it and I feel like that's pretty telling. ( )

This was literally so bad and it just gets worse the more I think about it. It was confusing for the sake of being confusing and nothing added up. SO many loose ends and also none of the characters were likable. It was just unrealistic on SO many levels and the only reason I gave it 2 stars is that it was interesting enough to get me through it unlike other books I've read. Seriously don't waste your time with this. ( )

I want to share the last few reactions I had to this book. They went something like this- "What!?! Wait! Noooooo! Oh yes! Oh no! Get out of here. Oh my..." and so on. This is one of those books that will keep you guessing until the very end of the book.

The story is about Julie, who was kidnapped in the middle of the night at knifepoint. Her mother, Anna, and her father as well as her sister who witnessed the crime, have had hope for years that Julie would be back.

As years begin to pass, the family starts moving on with their lives until one day, a barefooted 21 year old shows up on their doorstep claiming to be Julie. At first the family is thrilled to have their daughter back, but things start not adding up, such as Julie's story and some of her actions don't match up with their daughter. A private detective then calls and says that Julie may not be their daughter.

I will admit that the last sentence of the above paragraph seems like a spoiler, but I assure you it isn't and that is one of the things I loved about Gentry's book. From the beginning the reader will question whether or not Julie is really Julie and the detective is introduced fairly early in the book to help the reader remove this question. I loved that as it could have been drawn out for a long time, but instantly the doubt is introduced which frees up the story to explain who Julie is.

The other reason it is not a spoiler is the book itself is told from two perspectives- Anna and Julie's. We stick with Anna for about the first quarter or less of the book and jump instantly into Julie's story. Anna's story is told forward always, while Julie's begins with what we know and moves backward which really worked in this book. Julie's backward story will leave one questioning regularly as characters are introduced, but not explained who they are until the next chapter. While Anna's story keep moving along as the private eye gives more details as to who Julie might be. It isn't cut and dry though and I was left guessing until the end.

There were two minor critiques I had with the book- first the cover is ugly. I kept joking on Litsy how ugly the cover is- pink and yellow just clash together. The second was there is a character in the book that I wished was introduced just a little bit earlier. This character could have flowed with the story from the very beginning and it would have developed the story a bit more.

I had a lot of fun with this book. The writing is ok and Gentry kept the story moving along without too much drag. I loved the alternating chapters which kept the book going.

Overall, I gave this one 3.5 stars.
( )