Since She Went Away by David Bell / Reviewed by Kelly Saderholm
Killer Nashville Book of the Day
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David Bell
Since She Went Away by David Bell
Reviewed by Kelly Saderholm
Bestselling author David Bell has produced another gripping crime thriller in his newest offering Since She Went Away. This novel, in the best literary mystery fashion, keeps the reader guessing until the final twist, and leaves the reader with much to consider after closing the book, all the while entertaining and informing the reader with a well-written story and engaging characters.
Bell explores the darker side of friendship when Jenna Barton and her best friend Celia Walters plan to meet at a local park for an impromptu night out. But Jenna was running late that evening and when she got to the park, Celia was not there. She was not anywhere. She had completely disappeared. The police are baffled as are Jenna and Celia's husband Ian. Three months later, Jenna is still filled with remorse and guilt when new developments begin to unfold. Jenna's son, Jared, has a new girlfriend, Tabitha, whom no one knows anything about. That is until she, too, goes missing. Slowly, secrets begin to emerge. Celia had secrets that she kept from even her best friend. Tabitha had dark secrets of her own. Celia begins to wonder if the two disappearances are connected in some way.
While keeping the reader fully engaged in the story, David Bell also has much to say about the dark side of relentless 24-hour cable news channels, and the personalities who constantly search for sensational stories—even searching for scoops in small Kentucky towns. Renna Huffman makes on-air insinuations to drive her ratings and she doesn't care what effect it has on people like Jenna, who, along with the rest of the town, feels the effects of constant surveillance and the weight that settles on one’s shoulders in the face of the unknown. Jenna obsessively consults online message boards devoted to Missing Persons but discovers harmful secrets there, as well.
Since She Went Away, by David Bell is published by New American Library, an imprint of Penguin Random House, New York, New York, and is available for sale on June 28t,th 2016.
Kelly Saderholm has written, blogged, and lectured about aspects of the mystery novel. She has moderated panels and presented papers at literary conferences, on both the Mystery Novel and Urban Fantasy. She is currently shifting from writing about mystery fiction to writing actual mystery fiction, and is working on a novel, as well as a non-fiction book dealing with Folklore in the American South. She is a recipient of a Kentucky Foundation for Women grant. She lives in South Central Kentucky with her family and two feline office assistants.
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