The Child Finder

 

Description:

Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon’s Skookum National Forest. She would be eight years old now—if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as The Child Finder, Naomi is their last hope.

Naomi’s methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl too. 

As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison’s disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life? 

My review:

“America was an iceberg shattered into a billion fragments, and on each stood a person, rotating like an ice floe in a storm.” 
― Rene Denfeld, The Child Finder

There was Madison, a lost girl. One of many. Lost in the snowy landscape of Oregon’s Skookum National Forest, when she wandered off from her parents car while picking a Christmas tree. 

“In the years since, she had discovered the sacrament of life did not demand memory. Like a leaf that drank from the morning dew, you didn’t question the morning sunrise or the sweet taste on your mouth. You just drank.” 
― Rene Denfeld, The Child Finder

There was Naomi. The orphan, the child finder. Equally lost…by choice…of events she does not want to remember….because she is too afraid of the pain. 

“The moon, B had noticed, awakened the dawn, and so the two – like pale cousins – never saw each other. Even on the most hopeful of days the moon could only peep, from a distant sky, at the sun.” 
― Rene Denfeld, The Child Finder

There is Mr. B. Wrestling with his own demons….for love….to be found…

“She said we are all part of a secret club. Someday, she said, we will take over the earth. It will be people like us that save the world, she said: those who have walked the side of sorrow and seen the dawn.” 
― Rene Denfeld, The Child Finder

The quotes and the amazing reviews stand for themselves. This raw, layered novel reaches deep and grabs all your emotions of grief, loss, hate, fear and love. 

Written in multiverse, you set foot into the various different characters and their emotions. All along as the plot unfolds branching out and reaching this story from all different possible angles, zig-zagging, twisting and turning. Very clever constructed and not giving away too much to figure it all out. You are allured into this haunting and at times sentimental read, as it keeps you on the edge wondering. 

“This is something I know: no matter how far you have run, no matter how long you have been lost, it is never too late to be found.” 
― Rene Denfeld, The Child Finder

So, will Madison be found? Will Naomi face her fears? Will Mr. B. overcome his demons? You’ll just have to find out. It’s a great book.