If You Find Me

Ok, I'm a huge baby. This book made me cry. I think it's the mom in me. I need a tissue now.

This book wasn't quite what I expected. I knew it was about a girl who had been kidnapped, but that was about it. I actually liked how it was laid out with the rescue at the beginning and the flashback interwoven into the story afterwards. More of a mystery that way, dropping in the puzzle pieces. My nitpick: it didn't seem like the girls went to therapy or had any professional help outside of the social worker helping test them for school. Really? Maybe I missed a throwaway line or something, but no one on one sessions? No family / group therapy? Kids are resilient, but that missed the mark for me.

I've had this book on my list for a while now. Glad I finally got to it. 3.5 stars, but rounding up because it was a tear-jerker, and I love those kind of books.

Carey has been living in a camper in the middle of the woods for as long as she can remember; bringing up her little sister, Jenessa, in the shadow of her addict mother. Her mother tells her they had to run from their abusive father and the woods are the only safe place for them. When her mother is gone for longer than her normal trips away, Carey starts to worry but is certain she’ll come back. But then two strangers approach them, strangers who promise to take them away. Promise them a better life.

Written in first person narrative, Carey starts off in a southern accent but makes a conscious decision to improve her speech when she joins the rest of the world. This means that the writing style changes a few chapters in (so don’t make your mind up from a sample, as accented speech can often be a struggle to read). The two girls are well educated, but there are a lot of things that we take for granted that they have only read about and there some wonderful scenes of amazement as they become reintegrated into modern life. Yet there is also an awful lot to be scared of; from surviving high school to hiding the truth. It's also a shocking reminder of the poverty that some families live in, whatever their circumstances.

I know that Carey has had things bad in the past and deserved good to happen to her now, but really, I felt her new life was a little too good to be true. Her new mother doesn’t bat an eyelid at spending hundreds on a new wardrobe, both children score above average in their learning assessments and the whole family is incredibly patient and understanding. It is often a fault of YA that the adult characters aren’t multi-faceted; they’re either without flaws or plain evil. Delaney is a breath of fresh air in this respect, as she might seem mean but her reactions to an intruder in her life are natural.

The dark underbelly of the story is what drives it on. There are enough clues given to work out what happened to them in the woods but it’s about Carey coming to terms with it, getting to the point where she’s willing to admit and accept.

In a broken down camper, hidden in the forest, is where you will find Casey and Jenessa. Abducted by their bi-polar meth addicted mother ten years ago, the girls have learnt to survive on their own. Until one day their mother disappears for good and two strangers turn up. Suddenly the girls are expected to reintegrate into normal society. If You Find Me is part psychological thriller part Young Adult fiction.

I don’t think I’ve read a YA novel like this before, the survival aspects are handled really well and the whole concept of trying to live a normal life again after being taken away from society were handled really well. The best part; it’s a Young Adult novel that handles these topics that doesn’t have dystopian theme. I really enjoyed the psychological themes throughout this book and thought they were managed really well for a debut author like Emily Murdoch.

There are some parts of this book that I didn’t like, I personally felt like elements of Casey’s life were glossed over; there are mentions of sexual abuse that would be fairly traumatic but I didn’t think it was really explored. Also adorable little Jenessa has a major breakthrough in the book but it was predictable and I could see it coming for miles but then I never felt like it was explored enough; it happened and they all moved on like it never happened.

The concept and the plot are great and I think there are a lot of elements to love about this book. I might be one of the few people that probably thought there were parts that needed to be explored more and other parts that needed to be stripped back. Everything just ended up being unrealistically neat; I would have liked to see some more of the psychological, just to make sure everything isn’t too tidy.

If You Find Me is a great little young adult book from a fantastic new up-and-comer in this genre. I love that this book doesn’t feel like it has been done before. There are some real serious issues explored and for the most of it, it worked really well. For fans of Young Adult fiction, this is a must read for you and I hope this book ends up being a huge success.

This review originally appeared on my blog; literary-exploration.com/2013/03/12/book-review-if-you-find-me/