Don't Look for Me
Fiction
St. Martin's Press
September 15, 2020
Hardcover
352
Purchased
One night, Molly Clarke walked away from her life. The car abandoned miles from home. The note found at a nearby hotel. The shattered family that couldn't be put back together. It happens all the time. Women disappear, desperate to leave their lives behind and start over. She doesn't want to be found. Or at least, that's the story. But is that what really happened to Molly Clarke?
The night Molly disappeared began with a storm, running out of gas, and a man in a truck offering her a ride to town. With him is a little girl who reminds her of the daughter she lost years ago. It feels like a sign. And Molly is overcome with the desire to be home, with her family—no matter how broken it is. She accepts the ride. But when the doors are locked shut, Molly begins to suspect she has made a terrible mistake.
When a new lead comes in after the search has ended, Molly's daughter, Nicole, begins to wonder. Nothing about her mother's disappearance makes sense.
Nicole returns to the small, desolate town where her mother was last seen to find the truth. The locals are kind and eager to help. The innkeeper. The bartender. Even the police. Until secrets begin to reveal themselves and she comes closer to the truth about that night—and the danger surrounding her.
My review:
Of course I had to share a thriller on the day before Halloween. However, this is not just any thriller, this one earned 5 stars from me! I can count on one hand the number of times I've given that rating to a thriller, I usually really enjoy them, but they don't knock my socks off. This one did just that! Told from two perspectives, we have that of Molly, who runs out of gas on her way home from her son's football game, and her daughter Nicole, who won't give up the search for her mother even after a 'don't look for me' note is found. Molly is seen as the perfect type to want to walk away from her life. She accidentally kills her younger daughter, and neither she nor the rest of the family have ever gotten over it. Does her feeling of shame and being blamed cause her to want a new life away from it all? While both narrators were important to the story, the Molly parts were what completely set me on edge. I don't read a lot of scary stories, but this was sooooo creepy and edge of your seat good! Lots of going back and forth on which of the secondary characters were good guys or bad, keeps this book moving at a quick pace. And I absolutely never saw the major twist coming, but it was a good one!
If you are someone who wants your creepy reads to have a more realistic vibe (as opposed to ghosts, vampires, and that sort), I highly recommend picking this one up. It will keep you on your toes, and probably keep you reading beyond your usual timeframe. And public service announcement.....NEVER run out of gas!!
