Bring Her Home by David Bell
Published by Penguin on 2017
Genres: Crime, Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers
Pages: 432
Goodreads
“Bell imagines a suburban world where no one really knows what’s happening behind all those drawn blinds. In Bell’s take, though, even the people inside don’t really know what’s happening. That’s where his brilliance, and the brilliance of Bring Her Home, rests.”–Providence Journal
In the breathtaking new thriller from David Bell, bestselling author of Since She Went Away and Somebody I Used to Know, the fate of two missing teenage girls becomes a father’s worst nightmare….
Just a year and a half after the tragic death of his wife, Bill Price’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Summer, and her best friend, Haley, disappear. Days later, the girls are found in a city park. Haley is dead at the scene, while Summer is left beaten beyond recognition and clinging to life.As Bill holds vigil over Summer’s bandaged body, the only sound the unconscious girl can make is one cryptic and chilling word: No. And the more time Bill spends with Summer, the more he wonders what happened to her. Or if the injured girl in the hospital bed is really his daughter at all.
When troubling new questions about Summer’s life surface, Bill is not prepared for the aftershocks. He’ll soon discover that both the living and the dead have secrets. And that searching for the truth will tear open old wounds that pierce straight to the heart of his family…
I was recently provided with a couple of books that I wouldn’t have ordinarily known about, and in exchange for reading them, I agreed to provide my honest review, whether that was a positive or negative reaction. Today’s post is about Bring Her Home by David Bell.
The story inside the novel, Bring Her Home, deals with Bill Price. His wife tragically died a year and a half earlier, and now his 15-year old daughter, Summer, and her best friend, Haley, both disappear. Summer and Haley were the best of friends ever since first grade, and now that they are teenagers they share secrets and go everywhere together.
The girls are found in a city park days later where Haley is already dead and Summer has been beaten beyond recognition and left for dead. Summer is currently in a coma in ICU At first Bill stays by the bed where is daughter Summer is fighting for her life. She is beaten beyond recognition and the more time Bill is there, the more he begins to wonder what really happened to Summer and even worse, he begins to wonder if it is really Summer at all.
If I share too much of the plot of this story, I will definitely write a spoiler (which I will not do… ever). I will just say that the suspense in this book was great and I loved the twists and turns. The chapters were written in a short fashion so I caught myself saying “just one more chapter!” and then ended up reading the entire book in one sitting! There are so many open questions happening at any given time within the book, that I was dying to find out what was happening and couldn’t imagine putting the book down.
Along with the fact that the story was well-written, I felt that the characters were perfectly complicated and flawed, and I found them easy to empathize with. This was an enjoyably nerve-racking thriller that had a great emotional edge.
David Bell is the author of seven novels from Berkley/Penguin, including BRING HER HOME, SINCE SHE WENT AWAY, SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW, THE FORGOTTEN GIRL, NEVER COME BACK, THE HIDING PLACE, and CEMETERY GIRL.
His work has been translated into numerous foreign languages, and in 2013, he won the prestigious Prix Polar International de Cognac for best crime novel by an international author. He is an associate professor of English at Western Kentucky University where he directs the MFA program in creative writing.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he spends his free time rooting for the Reds and Bengals, watching movies, and walking in the cemetery near his house. He lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with his wife, writer Molly McCaffrey.
I received a courtesy copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I want to thank them very much for bringing David Bell’s name to my attention. I will definitely be reading more of his work in the future!
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