Search - Isabella Moon

Laura Benedict's debut novel is a combination mystery/thriller/romance. I love Southern fiction, but this one didn't quite do it for me. This is a character driven novel, many of them unlikeable. I didn't care for the ghost aspect of the story, and the novel ended quite abruptly. A mostly unsatisfying read, but I will watch for Ms. Benedict's next effort.

This book started out great!
The middle was great!
The end...sucked.

It started with a bang and went out with a fizzle.

Kate Russell is a recent transplant to the small southern town of Carystown, Kentucky. Recently she has come to believe that she is being haunted by the ghost of Isabella Moon, a young girl who disappeared two years earlier. Convinced she knows where Isabelle’s body is Kate goes to the sheriff with her story. When Sheriff Delaney reluctantly follows up on the lead, he does find Isabella’s body. But now Kate is one of the prime suspects I the case and she has many secrets of her own to conceal- including why she came to this town in the first place. When another murder takes place some dark secrets of the town’s residents come bubbling to the top.

This book was a real page turner, and I really liked it, even if some of the plotting was familiar or obvious. The WTF? ending had me completely flabbergasted, and not in a good way. I just hated the conclusion and it took the overall rating of the book down a notch.

I like thrillers, but this novel disappointed me. I didn't like any of the characters AT ALL. It's dark...too dark for my taste. I appreciate authors who delve into the darker sides of human nature, but this was just too much.