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The Child Finder by Rene Denfield (first published in 2017 by HarperCollins)
Ghosts are just dead people we haven’t found.
As the title suggests, the novel focuses on a private investigator, Naomi, who specialises in missing children. As a former missing child herself, she is continually working on piecing together fragmented memories of her own past.
Due to trauma-related amnesia, she doesn’t have much to go on, but we do gain insight into her recovery in the home of her foster mother, a wonderful specimen of humanity who loves and cherishes her.
Naomi’s latest case is that of Madison, a young girl who went missing three years prior in a desolate snowy landscape, making the likelihood of finding her alive particularly slim. She has a particular gift, however, and the novel traces her methodical search for the child, involving cases of years past, suspicious neighbours and hostile terrain.
Naomi always began by learning to love the world where the child went missing. It was like carefully unravelling a twisted ball of yarn. A bus stop that led to a driver that led to a basement room, carefully carpeted in soundproofing. A ditch in full flood that led to a river, where sadness awaited on the shore.
The perspectives alternate with those of the kidnapped Madison, as well as her captor, who remains a shadowy figure for most of the novel.
Please be aware that there are depictions of child abuse. While they are not overly graphic, they are almost more horrifying in their subtlety, in the aftermath rather than the actual act.
There’s something magical about Denfeld’s writing. It’s sorrowful and relentless, pushing you forward to the conclusion – and you are powerless to resist.
This book is ideal for those who prefer what I like to call ‘quiet’ mysteries – it’s not action-packed, but there is certainly a palpable sense of dread, and a focus just as much on the personal as the procedural.
Purchase a copy of the book from Raru.co.za.
Read more of Hannah’s reviews on her book blog.
