BLOG TOUR: Do Not Become Alarmed

Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy
Published by Viking
Paperback
Expected publication 6 July 2017
342 pages
ARC

Connect with the author I was given an ARC by the publisher and voluntarily reviewed it. A paperback came through my letterbox one day. WHAT'S IT'S ABOUT

When Liv and Nora decide to take their husbands and children on a holiday cruise, everyone is thrilled. The ship's comforts and possibilities seem infinite. But when they all go ashore in beautiful Central America, a series of minor mishaps lead the families further from the ship's safety.

One minute the children are there, and the next they're gone.

What follows is a heart-racing story told from the perspectives of the adults and the children, as the distraught parents - now turning on one another and blaming themselves - try to recover their children and their shattered lives.

OPENING

THE CRUISE SHIP towered over the dock in San Pedro like an enormous white layer cake, or a floating apartment building.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I thought Do Not Become Alarmed was great even though it took me ages to get into and for the first 50 pages or so I wasn't sure I would enjoy it at all. Do Not Become Alarmed is not the book I was expecting; a typical missing children thriller so it took a while to adjust my preconceptions. I'm glad I did because I ended up loving Do Not Become Alarmed (great title by the way). What makes this book stand out is the original way the author tackles such a well-worn subject matter. There have been thousands of books about missing children so it's hard work to be different. Do Not Be Alarmed does just that. I liked the way the novel is structured; alternating between the parent's and the children as both storylines start to move closer together. I enjoyed the last 100-pages or so the best as events started to move faster towards some kind of resolution. I'm glad I stuck with Do Not Become Alarmed as I ended up loving it.

Published