The Lost and the Found

by Cat Clarke

Real, compulsive and intense: Cat Clarke is the queen of emotional suspense. For fans of Paula Hawkins, Gillian Flynn, Megan Abbott and Jandy Nelson.

SHE WAS LOST...

When six-year-old Laurel Logan was abducted, the only witness was her younger sister, Faith. Faith's childhood was dominated by Laurel's disappearance - from her parents' broken marriage and the constant media attention to dealing with so-called friends who only ever wanted to talk about her sister.

NOW SHE IS FOUND...

Thirteen years later, a young woman is found in the garden of the Logans' old house, disorientated and clutching the teddy bear Laurel was last seen with. Laurel is home at last, safe and sound. Faith always dreamed of getting her sister back, without ever truly believing it would happen. But a disturbing series of events leaves Faith increasingly isolated and paranoid, and before long she begins to wonder if everything that's lost can be found again...

• ISBN10: 1848663951
• ISBN13: 9781848663954
• Publish Date: 4 May 2017 (first published 2 July 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
• Imprint: Quercus Children's Books
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
I hate being a black sheep, guys. Anyway. I didn't hate this book or anything. But I had read so many great reviews that maybe my expectations were too high? No, I didn't dislike it, I just... felt nothing toward it either way. In fairness, I guessed what was happening really early on, and turned out to be right, so I guess that is pretty anticlimactic.

What I liked:

• The family stuff. This story is super family focused, since Laurel's disappearance and such has kind of been the center of their world. I liked that Faith was so close with her stepfather, and I liked that he was there for her, especially when her parents just could not be, emotionally.


• Faith was pretty realistic, in my opinion. Like, she was selfish from time to time, but who isn't? And she did try so hard with Laurel and with her parents, but man, this was not an easy situation for anyone, let alone a teenaged girl!


• The book did pick up a bit in the second half, so even though I felt sure that I knew how things would end, I still was reading it at a pretty good pace.

What I didn't:

• Faith's boyfriend was the actual worst. I don't even know why he was in the story, unless the point was just to make me rage. Which I did. Because go away, dude. And her friends were pretty much crap too. I was glad she had her stepfather, because seriously, none of these other people deserved to be her friend.


• I didn't feel a sense of urgency, because everything seemed a bit... obvious to me. Not just the "big" stuff either, but some of the smaller points.


• Frankly, it just didn't stick with me very much. When I was done I was satisfied, and then moved on and kind of didn't really think about it again.

Bottom Line: Not a bad story, and I enjoyed the writing, but I felt almost like I'd heard the story before since I felt like I knew what would happen. Faith was a great character though, and I'd definitely consider reading more books from the author, I just think this one maybe wasn't for me.

*Copy provided by publisher for review