Review: 'Don't Look for Me' by Wendy Walker
Pub. Date: 15/09/2020
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
They said she walked away. But what really happened to Molly Clarke?
From the bestselling author of All Is Not Forgotten comes a compelling and emotionally powerful story of a daughter's desperate search to find her mother before it's too late.
They called it a “walk away.” The car abandoned miles from home. The note found at a nearby hotel. The shattered family. It happens all the time. Women disappear, desperate to start over. But what really happened to Molly Clarke?
The night Molly disappeared began with a storm, running out of gas, and a man offering her a ride to safety. But when the doors lock shut, Molly begins to suspect she has made a terrible mistake.
A new lead brings Molly’s daughter, Nicole, back to the small, desolate town where her mother was last seen to renew the desperate search. The locals are sympathetic and eager to help. The innkeeper. The bartender. Even the police. Until secrets begin to reveal themselves and Nicole comes closer to the truth about that night—and the danger surrounding her.
What do you do when your mom has disappeared, apparently on purpose? What if she has left a note and everyone, including your dad and brother, assume she abandoned you all? And what if you've been kidnapped but know no one is looking for you? It might be trite to bring up Tolstoy when discussing families, but each unhappy family truly does carry its own, specific trauma. How, to quote another genius, do you learn to live with the unimaginable? Wendy Walker truly looks into all the various family relationships in Don't Look for Me, gently investigating each for the small joys and cuts we give each other. It is this depth that gives the novel its emotional core and you can't help but root for the family, despite all their little barbs and neglects.
Don't Look For Me switches in perspective between Molly Clarke and her daughter, Nicole. While the former is looking for a way out and begins to get to know her captor, the latter struggles to make sense of the leads and the secretive locals. There are slight time hops here as well, as Molly's narrative tells us about her capture and works its way towards the moment Nicole finds herself in. Wendy Walker takes on a lot in Don't Look For Me, telling us about the Clarke family, Nicole's demons, and the history of the town and its locals. It's a credit to her writing that almost all of the characters do feel quite fleshed out, so that the reader can genuinely take them into account while trying to solve Molly's disappearance. I did struggle to initially get into the story, but once Walker has set up all the pieces it becomes riveting. As the tension slowly ramps up and the stories of the mother and daughter become more entwined, I found myself genuinely intrigued.
As mentioned above, Wendy Walker creates a whole range of characters for this novel, but it is Molly and Nicole who really shine. Both aren't in exactly ideal circumstances, dealing with guilt and hurt, trying to make the best of it and yet so undermining their own healing at times. However, as the novel continues, Walker shows us how they become stronger, more determined, smarter, more resourceful. It is done so gently, with baby steps, that by the end I was majorly impressed by both. Walker works well with the cliches of the thriller genre, creating memorable scenes and settings. At times spooky, at times heart-warming, I was thoroughly entertained throughout.
I give this novel...
3 Universes!
Don't Look for Me is a gentle but thorough look at a family in crisis and a daughter willing to do everything to find her mother. With tight scenes and interesting characters, I would recommend Wendy Walker's novel to any thriller reader!
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