Synopsis:
Newly, single mom, Beth has one constant, gnawing worry: that her dreamy eight-year-old daughter, Carmel, who has a tendency to wander off, will one day go missing.
And then one day, it happens: On a Saturday morning thick with fog, Beth takes Carmel to a local outdoor festival, they get separated in the crowd, and Carmel is gone.
Shattered, Beth sets herself on the grim and lonely mission to find her daughter, keeping on relentlessly even as the authorities tell her that Carmel may be gone for good.
Carmel, meanwhile, is on a strange and harrowing journey of her own—to a totally unexpected place that requires her to live by her wits, while trying desperately to keep in her head, at all times, a vision of her mother …
Alternating between Beth’s story and Carmel’s, and written in gripping prose that won’t let go, The Girl in the Red Coat—like Emma Donoghue’s Room and M. L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans—is an utterly immersive story that’s impossible to put down . . . and impossible to forget.
Rating: 5 stars
Review:
The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer is phenomenal. Brilliantly well-written…and highly suspenseful, readers won’t want to stop reading this story. From the very first page, Kate Hamer has already taken readers hearts and mind into the most luring read of all time. Readers will connect fast and easy with the mother who…has lost her daughter. A daughter who was only eight years old. The mother’s worry and fear become the reader’s the instant they open this book. So many years go on by and the mother’s worst fear seeps closer and closer to her like a heavy blanket that won’t lift.
The Girl in the Red Coat is a thrilling, haunting, yet realistically done read that readers will love. Kate Hamer zooms in on the psychological and emotional journey of both mother and daughter. Readers will see that this child abduction is original and refreshing compared to other similar reads. The ending of this psychological thriller is a twist that readers won’t see coming. It is absolutely remarkable on how Kate Hamer delivers readers a heart-pounding novel that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. The title of this masterpiece ties in perfectly with the ending. The Girl in the Red Coat is Kate Hamer’s debut novel, and I loved it. After reading this book, I look forward to reading more by this talented writer. This read will open readers eyes to the deeper part of experiencing one’s child abduction.Something that no child or parent should ever have to encounter. Most children never make it back home alive. Overall, I highly recommend this to readers worldwide.
Urban Book Reviews 