Monday, June 13, 2022

D. J. Palmer: My Wife is Missing

D.J. Palmer shows how far a man will go in order to find his family, even if they don't want to be found:

A husband's worst nightmare comes true. While on vacation in NYC Micheal goes out to get pizza for his family and when he returns to the hotel they are all missing. The only thing left behind is his son's favourite Teddy Bear. Convinced they have been kidnapped Michael quickly contacts the police but is soon proven wrong by security camera footage, the family left of their own free will. Now things turn toward Michael, why would his wife flee with their children? All Michael knows is that he needs to find his family, his wife has been unstable lately with insomina issues and he thinks that is what has caused her to flee and could be a danger to herself and the kids.

This is the second book that I have read by Palmer and her first book The perfect Daughter, was almost the perfect book for me, so I had high hopes for this book as well. I will say that it had me hooked from the very beginning with Michael returning home to discover that his wife and children are missing and then getting the perspective of Natalie and where they were/why but my overall investment of the book waned as the book went on. It lost the suspense as the farther we went into the book and it felt like all Natalie did was drive, drive, drive and then drive some more, tell us that Natalie suffers from insomnia but never really address this aspect fully in the book. She doesn't know what is there and what is not but this unique  aspect was under utilized throughout the book. The last 25 % of the book are fairly intense as everything and everyone seem to come together at once and while I was able to predict part of the ending I was not able to see the full twist that Palmer had coming.

I keep debating whether I like how this story was laid out with the present and before events, essentially we eventually get to why Natalie ran. Normally I like these POV but I'm not sure it worked entirely for this book or maybe there was just a few too name of the before POV of Natalie where more of her insomnia instances are established (but never fully explored...sorry if I keep repeating myself). Michael and Natalie are both unreliable characters in the book, Natalie due to her mental health and Michael due to secrets he is keeping. And can you really know the person that you love.

This was a good book, it kept me entertained but it did slow down quite a bit and get repetitive near the middle of the book, which caused the story to lag. I like the twists that Palmer came up with in the end story and I couldn't actually figure it all out. I look forward to reading more by Palmer.

Enjoy!!!
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