The Silent Girls by Eric Rickstad

This book is definitely a departure from my normal style, and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it.

This is the story of Frank Rath, a private investigator in Vermont who becomes involved in investigating the disappearance of a young woman from his small town. As the search deepens, other women are found to be missing in their area. Is there a connection? Who has these women?

At the same time, Frank is a single father, raising the niece he adopted after her parents were brutally murdered in their home. Rachel is now grown and off to college, and Frank is really missing her.

I nearly put this book down after the first chapter, which was really creepy. It didn't continue that way, so I'm glad I kept going.

I didn't really love the characters in this book. Frank seems bent on self destruction, Grout, the lead detective also seems miserable, and we don't learn enough about Sonja, the other detective on the case. I would also like to have gotten to know Rachel better.

However, what bothered me most about this book is that it contained several grammatical and sentence structure errors. It felt like it hadn't been edited. For example, a character was "slapped across face" instead of "across the face".  At the end of the book, the initial victim's last name was changed from Wilks to Wilkins. That sort of thing drives me crazy. And the author had this weird way of using the word but as a complete sentence continually, no matter which character was speaking.

“She sort of seems familiar. But. In that way that reminds you of someone from TV or a dream.”

“But. State borders aren’t going to stop a sicko,” Sonja said.

But. How did one person, or even two people, choose these girls. And why?

“Of course I can read.” Gale sighed. “But. Her handwriting is a first grader’s. I’ll give it my best.”

Argh! 

Another thing that bothered me is that all Christians are portrayed as being zealots who protest outside abortion clinics. It paints a lot of people with a broad brush and I don't like that. 

If you can get past those things then the story is entertaining and compelling. But if those sorts of things bother you, then skip this one.

Also, the story ends on a cliffhanger, trying to force you to read the next book. I'm not sure if I will. I hope it has a better editor.

*** Thanks to Goodreads reviewer Christie for isolating these quotes for me so I didn't have to do it.