The child finder : a novel

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Title:

The child finder : a novel

Author:

Denfeld, Rene, author.

Series:

Naomi Cottle ;

Series Number:

Summary:

Three years ago Madison Culver went missing at the age of five while looking for a Christmas tree with her family. Private investigator Naomi Cottle continues the investigation and believes that Madison's disappearance can only be the result of an abduction. Naomi's personal journey from foster child to adulthood parallels her search for Madison, and as her fears and sources of determination come to light, the narrative also dips into Madison's mind, allowing readers to experience her terrifying ordeal at the hands of her captor.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

273 pages ; 22 cm

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction.

Thrillers (Fiction)

Subject Term:

Women private investigators -- Fiction.

Missing children -- Investigation -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Oregon -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,

Publication Date:

2017

ISBN:

9780062659057

Publication Information:

New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]

Call Number:

DENFELD

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003248443	Adult Fiction	DENFELD	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

"It's 'Deliverance' encased in ice... Denfeld's novel is indeed loaded with suspense, its resonance comes from its surprising tilt towards storytelling restraint, a rarity in this typical crackling genre. Elegiac, informative and disquieting. . . . The novel gallops to a suitably heart-racing finish." -- New York Times Book Review

A haunting, richly atmospheric, and deeply suspenseful novel from the acclaimed author of The Enchanted about an investigator who must use her unique insights to find a missing little girl.

Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon's Skookum National Forest. She would be eight-years-old now--if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as "the Child Finder," Naomi is their last hope.

Naomi's methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl, too.

As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison's disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?

Told in the alternating voices of Naomi and a deeply imaginative child, The Child Finder is a breathtaking, exquisitely rendered literary page-turner about redemption, the line between reality and memories and dreams, and the human capacity to survive.

Author Notes

Rene Denfeld is an American author, based in Oregon. Her essays have been published in the New York Times and other publication. She is the author of two novels, The Enchanted, which received the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger in France, and The Child Finder, which has become an international bestseller.

In addition to writing, she was a Chief Investigator at a public defender's office, investigating death penalty cases. Her work in social justice has earned her the 2017 Break The Silence Award, given at the 24th Annual Knock Out Abuse Gala in Washington DC.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

An investigator seeks missing children in the remote reaches of an Oregon forest in this intense novel by Denfeld (The Enchanted). Private investigator Naomi cannot remember anything in her life before running in terror through a dark strawberry field as a child. Now in her late 20s, the titular "child finder" carries the burdens of a solitary career finding missing children. Her newest case-the disappearance of five-year-old Madison Culver three years ago somewhere in a glacier-studded national forest in rural Oregon-collides with a time of sickness and loneliness within her little remaining family. Her foster brother, Jerome, who suffers from a war injury, must care for the woman who raised them, Mrs. Cottle, while Naomi works. As Naomi follows clues, her lucid dreams become clearer, and the voice of an unnamed child tells her own story as the search for Madison unfolds. Using multiple voices, Denfeld takes an innovative approach to dealing with the pain of trauma, taking moments of darkness and frailty and probing them in heartbreaking, surprising ways. Naomi is a broken but ethical protagonist who always holds out hope: for the children yet to be found, the adults searching for missing loved ones, and herself as she tries to overcome past traumas. The conclusion will leave readers breathless. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

In her sophomore novel, Denfeld (The Enchanted) has created a glittering gem of a story-part mystery, part fairy tale, and all white-knuckled, edge-of-your-seat thriller. Set in the snow-choked world of Oregon's Skookum National Forest, Denfeld's tale revolves around the work of Naomi, an investigator known as "the Child Finder" who helps families track down their missing children. Calm, methodical, and determined, Naomi is single-minded in her pursuit of those lost because she was once a lost girl, too. As the book opens, she is meeting with the parents of Madison Culver, who disappeared three years before during a family trip to the forest to cut down a Christmas tree. Many have written off Madison for dead, but Naomi is willing to consider alternatives-even though the search causes her to remember long-lost scenes from her own tragic past. As the story alternates between Naomi's voice and that of a "snow child" who believes that she is living in a fairy tale, readers will be drawn in by Denfeld's lyrical prose and undone by the brutal reality that Naomi uncovers, just beneath the snowy forest floor. Verdict Strongly recommended for readers who enjoy the work of authors such as Jane Hamilton and M.L. Stedman (The Light Between Oceans). [See Prepub Alert, 3/27/17.]-Amy Hoseth, Colorado State Univ. Lib., Fort Collins © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.