Review: Don't Try to Find Me by Holly Brown

Don’t Try to Find Me by Holly Brown

Published: July 8, 2014

Publisher: William Morrow

Format: via Edelweiss
Challenges: NetGalley/Edelweiss

Rating: 3/5

Synopsis

Don't try to find me. Though the message on the kitchen white board is written in Marley's hand, her mother Rachel knows there has to be some other explanation. Marley would never run away.

As the days pass and it sinks in that the impossible has occurred, Rachel and her husband Paul are informed that the police have "limited resources." If they want their 14-year-old daughter back, they will have to find her themselves. Desperation becomes determination when Paul turns to Facebook and Twitter, and launches FindMarley.com.

But Marley isn't the only one with secrets.

With public exposure comes scrutiny, and when Rachel blows a television interview, the dirty speculation begins. Now, the blogosphere is convinced Rachel is hiding something. It's not what they think; Rachel would never hurt Marley. Not intentionally, anyway. But when it's discovered that she's lied, even to the police, the devoted mother becomes a suspect in Marley's disappearance.

Is Marley out there somewhere, watching it all happen, or is the truth something far worse?

My Thoughts

This is a hard one for me to review. I liked it but I just kept waiting for something bigger to happen. It’s like I kept feeling this build up but there was no real payoff in the end. Marley runs off to meet this guy online whom she thinks really gets her; you know the same old plot line you've seen in real life over and over. When her family discovers this they don’t know if she was kidnapped or was a runaway. There were two different plots going on at the same time.

We see Rachel, the mom, and how she recounts her view on the last morning she saw Marley. We see into her marriage which is falling apart and her husband whom she feels doesn’t want her or their marriage. People start to doubt her story, did she have something to do with Marley disappearance? We also learn a secret that Rachel has been caring and soon it is revealed and many wonder what else has she lied about.

Then there is Marley’s side. She goes cross country to meet this guy she met online whom has promised her a better life. She thinks he is the only one who loves her and cares for her. She soon finds out he is not who he claimed he was. She soon finds out the lengths that her parents have taken to try to find her. Even after all of this she still doesn’t try to leave.

This is where I kind of lost it. I don’t get why she doesn’t try to flee. She knows this guy isn’t stable yet she does at times feel sorry for him. She knows of her parent’s trouble in their marriage but doesn’t let on.

I kept reading thinking something big was going to happened. I just felt there could’ve been a bigger story than the one told. Don’t get me wrong this is a compelling read I just felt there was more. There are some good twist and turns not to mention a great little shocker. This one definitely speaks to time of online relationships and never trusting people right off. You never know who people really are online much less in real life.