Two Mini Reviews

Good morning! I have two mini reviews for you today from books that are fairly well reviewed. Let’s get to it!

The Girl Who Was Taken, Charlie Donlea
Mystery/Thriller

About the Book
Two abducted girls—one who returns, one who doesn’t.
 
The night they go missing, high school seniors Nicole Cutty and Megan McDonald are at a beach party in their small town of Emerson Bay, North Carolina. Police launch a massive search, but hope is almost lost—until Megan escapes from a bunker deep in the woods. . . . A year later, the bestselling account of her ordeal has made Megan a celebrity. It’s a triumphant story, except for one inconvenient detail: Nicole is still missing.
 
Nicole’s older sister, Livia, a fellow in forensic pathology, expects that one day soon Nicole’s body will be found and her sister’s fate determined. Instead, the first clue comes from another body—that of a young man connected to Nicole’s past. Livia reaches out to Megan to learn more about that fateful night. Other girls have disappeared, and she’s increasingly sure the cases are connected.
 
Megan knows more than she revealed in her book. Flashes of memory are pointing to something more monstrous than she described. And the deeper she and Livia dig, the more they realize that sometimes true terror lies in finding exactly what you’ve been looking for . . .

Book Links:
Goodreads
Amazon
Bookshop
B&N

My Thoughts

This was the last book in Donlea’s back catalog for me to read. I read it slowly because it’s always sad when I run out of books from an author I love.

For me, the ending felt incomplete. But it left the hope of a promise, and in that promise is where I see the potential for more books from Livia. I would love to see her take on more cases because I feel she is a special character.

Overall, this was a fun storyline that I loved watching unfold.

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American Gods, Neil Gaiman
Fantasy/Mythology

About the Book
Days before his release from prison, Shadow’s wife, Laura, dies in a mysterious car crash. Numbly, he makes his way back home. On the plane, he encounters the enigmatic Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America.

Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.

Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. You’ll be surprised by what – and who – it finds there…

Book Links
Goodreads
Amazon
Bookshop
B&N

My Thoughts

I don’t have much to add to the discussion of this book, as other reviewers have said it all.

This one took me longer than normal to read for a paperback. I think it’s because it’s heavily descriptive, and while I appreciate the detail of the surroundings, I appreciate it more when it makes the book atmospheric. So the extra descriptions sort of bogged down the pace.

I liked the premise and the heavily flawed characters. Gaiman tells the story in a meandering style. Even though I often felt his character was a bit flat, I grew more fond of Shadow the more the story went on. Overall, I enjoyed this one.

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Have you read either of these? What did you think?