Review: Fast-paced psychological thriller
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 31, 2013
Faith Mortimer's Childhunt is the fifth installment in the Diana Rivers Psychological Thriller series. Written from third person point of view with an omniscient narrator, Childhunt tackles one of a parent's worst nightmares: the kidnapping of a woman's two young children by a pedophile. The nightmare for the mother is compounded because her first two children were kidnapped and murdered several years before this story begins, and the mother was charged and later acquitted on murder charges.Childhunt is fast-paced; indeed, I read it in two days. The author deftly drops a nuanced run of clues in the tradition of the standard crime/mystery story. Amateur writer-sleuth Diana Rivers and her gang of supporting characters unravels the clues at a reasonable clip. Joining Rivers in her efforts to find the missing children before they suffer a tragic demise is a psychic, a Superintendent from the big city, a gang of runner-walkers, and the typically unpleasant local police force.Like most psychological thrillers, Childhunt kept me on the edge of my seat. This was one of those books that I skipped ahead to the ending about halfway into reading, because I couldn't stand the suspense of not knowing if the children were going to survive their ordeal. I think I should note that I found the plot itself quite distressing, which is undoubtedly as intended by Mortimer.The characters are for the most part well drawn and distinct. The dialogue, however, lacked differentiation. Each character sounds pretty much alike in tone and word choice, except for the children. When they speak, the children sound childlike without the effort by the author to give them a distinct dialect seeming overbearing.The shifting point of view from one character to the next usually occurs at the properly delineated chapter or scenes breaks. Several times, unfortunately, point of view shifts mid scene and this sometimes breaks the story's flow. The perpetrator's voice is creepy, discomfiting and icky, which is exactly as a pedophile should sound.After careful reflection, I give Childhunt a solid four stars. It's a well-managed, fast-paced psychological thriller with likable main characters, a horrid but believable antagonist, and good pacing throughout.Review by E.L. Farris, AIA-approved reviewer. I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. For more reviews, please see [...]