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Book Review of Little Face (Culver Valley Crime, Bk 1)

Little Face (Culver Valley Crime, Bk 1)
avidbookcollector avatar reviewed on + 36 more book reviews


I was expecting a lot more out of this one considering the teasing and tantalizing blurbs on the back of the book.

The story is told via the use of different narratives, one of them being from the point of view of Alice Fancourt, who has just come home with her new baby Florence. Alice and her husband David, Florence and David's young son from a previous marriage all live at the home of David's mother, Vivienne Fancourt, where Vivienne rules the roost in her lavish house called The Elms. As the story opens, Alice has left the house for a while for the first time since she delivered Florence via C-section. When she returns, she checks in on the baby and lo and behold, it's not Florence. Her husband, David, thinks that Alice is a bit disturbed and probably suffering from a case of postpartum depression, and swears that the baby is definitely Florence. But Alice thinks that a mother definitely knows her own baby -- and calls in the police. Enter Simon Waterhouse and his DS Charlie Zailer. There's absolutely no proof that Florence isn't Florence, so there's really no case, but things change when just a week later the baby and Alice go missing...and Waterhouse begins to take a second and more serious look at what's really going on here.

I was definitely quite hooked on the story up until the end when I thought it all fell apart. However, I can't explain without giving away the show so I'll let it go. Let's just say that I wasn't disappointed in the ending, as were many people for reasons I won't get into here, but the way it was just sort of thrust at me made it feel rushed and contrived. I think more of that particular plotline needed to be developed up to that point to have it all make more sense. It's also definitely a book demanding reader participation.

Overall, it's a decent read, and I would recommend it for people who like suspense novels.