Review of "Don't Look For Me: A Novel of Suspense" by Wendy Walker

Molly Clarke has been a mere shell of herself since her car struck and killed her 9-year-old daughter Annie five years ago. The incident was an unavoidable accident but Molly can't forgive herself and - in her profound grief - has become distanced from her husband John, teenage son Ethan, and 21-year-old daughter Nicole (Nic).

Nic, who was babysitting Annie at the time, also feels guilty, and fills up her 'hollow spaces' with vodka and one-night-stands.



Molly still makes it her business to make the four hour drive to her son's boarding school every other Thursday, to watch his football games. As Molly is returning home one evening, a storm hits and her car runs out of gas. Being just outside Hastings, Connecticut, Molly gets out to seek help, hails a passing truck, and vanishes.



When Molly's car is found, her family descends on Hastings, but the police can't find a clue to Molly's whereabouts. Two days later a note signed by Molly is found in a hotel room, asking her family not to look for her.



Molly's family won't give up that easily and offers a big reward for information about her whereabouts. Two weeks later, while Molly's husband is away on business, a woman comes forward with information and Nic returns to Hastings to check it out.



The book is told from the alternating perspectives of Molly and Nic. Molly's sections provide a day by day precis of what she's experiencing; and Nic's segments detail her search for her mother and her interactions with people in Hastings, especially the sheriff;



deputy sheriff;



hotel manager;



and bartender.



The tension builds up little by little as we learn of Molly's plight and observe the suspicious behavior of people in Hastings.

That's all I can say without spoilers.

The book is suspenseful but moves too slowly for my taste. I don't enjoy books that are (mostly) step by step descriptions of what people are doing. I also got tired of seeing the phrase 'hollow spaces', which is used again and again to describe Nic's state of mind. Moreover the story's climax is overwritten and has elements that are not believable. That said, many readers loved the book so you might want to check it out for yourself.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Wendy Walker), and the publisher (St.Martin's Press) for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3 stars