The Child Finder

I finally read the missing-child-mystery I’d been wanting to read for over a year, and had owned for nine months, and I’m so upset I didn’t read it earlier, but it really puts October off to a good reading start.  The Child Finder is a haunting tale of a missing girl lost in the snow-covered woods of Oregon and the investigator brought in to find her who has a dark past of her own. While the subject matter is heavy, this book is extremely well written and you don’t want to put it down.

The Child Finder begins three years after Madison went missing when her parents pulled their car over to the side of the road. She disappeared into the woods and was never found but her parents did not give up hope that she was still alive. That’s where Naomi comes in. She was once a missing child herself, at least she thinks so. She doesn’t remember anything before she was found, when she went to live with a foster mother who taught her how to love and a foster brother who helped her blossom. She’s kind of the expert at finding children, and she’s determined to find Madison. Her search takes her into the deep of the woods in Oregon, through snow covered mines,  into the microfiches records of an old town newspaper, and ultimately to the front door of a cabin in the woods no one knew existed anymore. Interwoven with this, and so hauntingly written, is the story of the Snow Girl, who was made when she was found and has a complicated, dangerous, and sometimes fascinating life with Mr. B.

The writing of this book was amazing! When you’re reading books with such tough subject matter, such as child abuse, it can be easy to distance yourself but Denfeld’s writing draws you in so you are right there with Snow Girl and in the midst of Naomi’s nightmares. I’m pretty sure this is going to be a series about Naomi finding children, but I’m not sure when the next book comes out. 2019 I would assume, considering this one came out in September 2017 and I haven’t heard anything about the next one yet. Either way, I can’t wait!