The Child Finder: A Suspense Novel About an Investigator Searching for a Missing Girl
“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.
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The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld
272 pages
What’s it about?
Six-year-old Madison Culver disappeared three years ago in the Skookum National Forest in Oregon. She was out looking for a Christmas tree in the forest with her parents. Three years later, in a last ditch effort, her parents hire Naomi- a private investigator with a talent for finding the hidden or the lost. In this novel, Naomi's story is interwoven with Madison's story to create a suspenseful, dark, and page-turning book.
What did it make me think about?
This novel made me think of how complicated, terrifying, and amazing the human mind is.
Should I read it?
I loved "The Enchanted" by Rene Denfeld a few years ago. This book was just as good. I have read quite a few "dark" novels of late and this book fits in that category. If your stories do not have to be sweet and happy then I would highly recommend both "The Enchanted" and "TheChild Finder". I am not sure why- but both Ms. Denfelds' novels seem "magical" to me. This novel will easily be one of my best books for winter!
Quote-
"His empty shoulder joint reminded him that life came at a cost. The bomb that had taken his arm exploded as he was saving a hostage: he was lucky. An accident might take his legs: a stroke could take his brain. His heart could die of loneliness a little every day. Why, life could steal all of him at any time.
That was life."
If you like this try-
The Enchanted by Rene Denfield
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
*A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld
272 pages
What’s it about?
Six-year-old Madison Culver disappeared three years ago in the Skookum National Forest in Oregon. She was out looking for a Christmas tree in the forest with her parents. Three years later, in a last ditch effort, her parents hire Naomi- a private investigator with a talent for finding the hidden or the lost. In this novel, Naomi's story is interwoven with Madison's story to create a suspenseful, dark, and page-turning book.
What did it make me think about?
This novel made me think of how complicated, terrifying, and amazing the human mind is.
Should I read it?
I loved "The Enchanted" by Rene Denfeld a few years ago. This book was just as good. I have read quite a few "dark" novels of late and this book fits in that category. If your stories do not have to be sweet and happy then I would highly recommend both "The Enchanted" and "TheChild Finder". I am not sure why- but both Ms. Denfelds' novels seem "magical" to me. This novel will easily be one of my best books for winter!
Quote-
"His empty shoulder joint reminded him that life came at a cost. The bomb that had taken his arm exploded as he was saving a hostage: he was lucky. An accident might take his legs: a stroke could take his brain. His heart could die of loneliness a little every day. Why, life could steal all of him at any time.
That was life."
If you like this try-
The Enchanted by Rene Denfield
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
*A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
Naomi, a survivor of an abduction when she was a child, now searches for missing children, with a notable reputation of successfully finding the children she searches for, dead or alive. After spending years working all over the country finding dozens of missing children, her latest case brings her back to Oregon high country, where she was found some 20yrs earlier.
She searches the Mt Hood and/or Willamette National Forest areas for a child that has been missing for three years. This is going to sound silly, but as a devoted fan of several doggy duo cozy mysteries, I kept thinking throughout the book, “Naomi needs a dog”. SERIOUSLY!!! Based on the kind of work she does, a trained search and rescue dog would be so beneficial in her line of work, not to mention a great companion as well. Anyway, thought I’d throw it out there😊
I have mixed feelings about this story. Part of me questions why I even chose to read this story. I can read all about the murder, mayhem and evil in the world, but stories of crimes against children disturb me, sometimes deeply. So much so, the last story I read that revolved around a pedophile disturbed me in such a way that I kind of got irritated with myself about reading such horrible stories.
A friend recommended this book to me and indicated that not all the missing children in the book are victims of pedophiles. Thankfully, Denfeld’s descriptions of the crimes and depravity weren’t as gory and gruesome as a Karen Slaughter story. If they had been, I probably wouldn’t have continued to read the story. However, it was the sad and haunting descriptions and revelations of Naomi’s life and the work that drove her that kept me interested and turning the pages.
The ending came fast with heart pounding and thrilling suspense as well as some tear jerking scenes. Denfeld is a good writer and a wonderful storyteller. I look forward to the next book in the series.
She searches the Mt Hood and/or Willamette National Forest areas for a child that has been missing for three years. This is going to sound silly, but as a devoted fan of several doggy duo cozy mysteries, I kept thinking throughout the book, “Naomi needs a dog”. SERIOUSLY!!! Based on the kind of work she does, a trained search and rescue dog would be so beneficial in her line of work, not to mention a great companion as well. Anyway, thought I’d throw it out there😊
I have mixed feelings about this story. Part of me questions why I even chose to read this story. I can read all about the murder, mayhem and evil in the world, but stories of crimes against children disturb me, sometimes deeply. So much so, the last story I read that revolved around a pedophile disturbed me in such a way that I kind of got irritated with myself about reading such horrible stories.
A friend recommended this book to me and indicated that not all the missing children in the book are victims of pedophiles. Thankfully, Denfeld’s descriptions of the crimes and depravity weren’t as gory and gruesome as a Karen Slaughter story. If they had been, I probably wouldn’t have continued to read the story. However, it was the sad and haunting descriptions and revelations of Naomi’s life and the work that drove her that kept me interested and turning the pages.
The ending came fast with heart pounding and thrilling suspense as well as some tear jerking scenes. Denfeld is a good writer and a wonderful storyteller. I look forward to the next book in the series.
I am definitely in the minority on this one. The first half of the book was soooo slow. I liked the alternating voices but it took me awhile to get into the snow girl's story. Madison went missing at age 5 in a National Forest in Oregon. I found it hard to believe that such a young child would have the where with all the plot/plan an escape. I wish we would have learned more about Naomi's past. I don't know what the baby Danforth story had to do with anything. We know Naomi is a child finder-not sure what parallel was trying to be drawn between the Danforth baby & the snow girl except that Naomi worked both cases. And when was the Danforth case? It didn't add anything to the story for me. The last 30 pages were the best.