User Reedsy Review
Megan went missing in the mid-1990s and, regardless of her father’s known presence as a police officer, the case goes cold. Unwilling to admit defeat, Tom decides to enlist a private investigator and his quirky and troubled assistant to find out the real reason his daughter went missing.
I almost never give 5-star reviews, but this book caught and held my attention while leaving me wanting a spin off for Hannah (Scott, think you want to start a series with her as the main investigator?). The main characters were what I would call “well-rounded” – while they faced their current obstacle, they had to overcome other challenges in life that made their main task (finding Megan) seem near impossible.
For example: Tom’s wife has given up on their marriage, Marshall lost his family to divorce (a rather tragic and devastating one at that), and Hannah is grieving the loss of her older sister who also disappeared under mysterious circumstances. If Tom had chosen to give up his pursuit of his daughter, would his marriage still fail? If Marshall had kept it together that one single night, would he have a glimmer of a relationship with his daughter? If Hannah devoted all of her time to finding her sister, would she dive deep into depression and madness? These three main characters are focused on one single distraction… a goal really, to find what happened to Megan.
This book had all of the makings of a great suspense detective mystery. There’s a roadblock so the police don’t chase the lead, but private eye’s (and their assistance, and their client’s) are not swayed so easily. They are more creative, as they aren’t bound by the red tape. Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down, but I still made myself take a break after each chapter so I could absorb the latest connection made by the team.
If there were one thing I would change about the book, it would be the formatting. I’m sorry, but these omnipresent POVs confuse the heck out of me. If the author had included a separation (a line spacing, a decorative page break, or even just made it it’s own chapter) between Tom’s third-person POV and Hannah’s and Marshall’s there would have been many times I wouldn’t have had to go back and re-read the change up paragraph. I was like, “Wait, Tom’s in a diner, why are we now in a bedroom?”
Overall, I recommend this book to all my armchair detectives. It’s full of calculated details that help you and the characters solve the mystery: What happened to Megan?
Listen to an excerpt from The Fear of Winter:
