By David J. Bell ASIN: B00INIJIV8
Publisher: NAL
Publication Date: 10/07/2014
Format: Audio
My Rating: 3 Stars
The past has arrived uninvited at Jason Danvers’s door… and it’s his younger sister, Hayden, a former addict who severed all contact with her family as her life spiraled out of control. Now she’s clean and sober but in need of a desperate favor—she asks Jason and his wife to take care of her teenage daughter for forty-eight hours while she handles some business in town.
But Hayden never returns. And her disappearance brings up more unresolved problems from Jason’s past, including the abrupt departure of his best friend on their high school graduation night twenty-seven years earlier. When a body is discovered in the woods, the mysteries of his sister’s life—and possible death—deepen. And one by one these events will shatter every expectation Jason has ever had about families, about the awful truths that bind them and the secrets that should be taken to the grave
My Review
David Bell’s The Forgotten Girl is a mysterious and compelling drama of family, addiction, and dark secrets.
Jason has recently relocated from New York City to a small town in Ohio, where he grew up with his younger sister, Hayden. Hayden was always the bad gal while Jason was always the golden child. The brother-sister relationship is estranged, due to Hayden’s drug and alcohol addiction and she no longer lives in the childhood town.
Jason and his wife Nora are enjoying their small town living until one night Hayden shows up on their doorstep and requests they allow her daughter to stay with them until she takes care of some things. She appears to be sober and he agrees to the terms. When Hayden does not return, a suspicious past surfaces, and dark secrets, making for an intense mystery of deception and fear.
Bell creates flawed characters and a good set up; however, the audiobook (narrated by Dan John Miller) turned me off, with an annoying voice, when switching to the teen’s voice and some of the dialogue seemed a little silly. I would not recommend the audiobook, and feel it most likely reflected my overall lower rating.
However, I would recommend reading The Forgotten Girl, and look forward to reading more from Bell in the future! (Nice Cover)
