This is the chilling tale of a shocking crime involving three twelve year old girls,how their loved ones cope in the aftermath and the police investigation into what happened on the fateful night Cora was attacked. It also raises the moral question,if you are a parent,how far would you be prepared to go to protect your child if they were suspended of being involved in a terrible crime.
Cora Landry and her two friends Violet and Jordyn where supposed to be having a fun sleepover at Cora's house but instead they decided to sneak out at midnight and go to the abandoned rail yard on the outskirts of town.
Later that night, Cora is discovered on the tracks,covered in blood and clinging to life. Violet is discovered staggering across a nearby field,clearly in shock and also covered in blood but there is no sign of Jordyn. As the police launch an investigation into the shocking crime everyone is a suspect and no one can be trusted. But who would want to hurt a young girl like Cora - and why?
This intricately plotted story is told from multiple viewpoints including Jordyn's grandfather, Cora's mother and Violet's mother. It flips back at forth between before the night of Cora's attack and afterwards and is driven forward by interviews,case file notes,extracts from journals and internet social media activity. The characters were vivid and diverse and the vast majority of them were not very likeable for various reasons. Many of them were untrustworthy,deceitful and had hidden secrets,one was just a outright creep and more than one of them were nasty bullies. Why did the girls sneak out? What happened on that fateful night? What is the sad truth that is hidden behind all the lies?
Before She Was Found is a exceedingly,well written,creepy thriller that was inspired by the Slenderman case that shocked the world in 2014. It is a enthralling story that had me hooked in and frantically turning the pages from the first page right through to the heart breaking ending. It's a tale of friendships,betrayal,families,young love,obsession,cyber manipulation,peer pressure, mental frailty and the lengths parents are prepared to go to protect their children for both the right and the wrong reasons. I think this book would raise some interesting discussions if it was read by a book group. I couldn't put this book down and its definitely going to be one of my favourite books of this year. Very highly recommended by little old me.
AUTHOR BIO
Heather Gudenkauf is the Edgar Award nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of seven novels including The Weight of Silence, Not A Sound and Before She Was Found.
Heather was born in Wagner, South Dakota, the youngest of six children. At one month of age, her family returned to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota where her father was employed as a guidance counselor and her mother as a school nurse. At the age of three, her family moved to Iowa, where she grew up. Having been born with a profound unilateral hearing loss (there were many evenings when Heather and her father made a trip to the bus barn to look around the school bus for her hearing aids that she often conveniently would forget on the seat beside her), Heather tended to use books as a retreat, would climb into the toy box that her father’s students from Rosebud made for the family with a pillow, blanket, and flashlight, close the lid, and escape the world around her. Heather became a voracious reader and the seed of becoming a writer was planted.
Heather lives in Iowa with her family and a very spoiled German Shorthaired Pointer named Lolo. In her free time Heather enjoys spending time with her family, reading and hiking. She is currently working on her next novel.
Heather's first novel The Weight of Silence was a TV Book Club pick.
PUBLICATION DATE: 16th April 2019
PRINT LENGTH: 384 pages
PUBLISHER: HQ
GENRE: Psychological Thriller
PURCHASE LINK...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Before-She-Was-Found-emotional-ebook/dp/B07JHMSTT6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3HX7CCXEZB3JO&keywords=before+she+was+found&qid=1576412931&s=books&sprefix=Before+she+%2Caps%2C186&sr=1-1
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