Review: The Lost and The Found

Synopsis:     When six-year-old Laurel Logan was abducted, the only witness was her younger sister. Faith’s childhood was dominated by Laurel’s disappearance – from her parents’ broken marriage and the constant media attention to dealing with so-called friends who only ever wanted to talk about her sister.  Thirteen years later, a young woman is found in the garden of the Logans’ old house, disorientated and clutching the teddy bear Laurel was last seen with. Laurel is home at last, safe and sound. Faith always dreamt of getting her sister back, without ever truly believing it would happen. But a disturbing series of events leaves Faith increasingly isolated and paranoid, and before long she begins to wonder if everything that’s lost can be found again…

My review:     Well, where do I even start with this book?  Any book which can make me audibly gasp with its plot twist is a book worth reading, and a plot twist which surprises the reader as much as the characters themselves impresses me (even if the character was a little slow to catch on).

The story follows a younger sister as her missing sister suddenly re-appears after 13 years, bearing a childhood of abuse from a man who took her from her own front garden.  I am an older sibling, but not a younger one, so I was surprised to find myself so easily able to relate to the character of Faith, and this quickly led to her experiences affecting me in a way that I had to remind myself she wasn’t real.  I also loved that Faith’s relationship with her boyfriend was used in the plot of the book, but wasn’t overdone or rammed down your throat; the non-sickly love was great, as too often great books are ruined by interludes of unnecessary lovesick sections almost worth skipping entirely!

What I appreciated most in this book, aside from the main theme of the emotional rollercoaster of the return of a missing child, was the LGBT representation included by author Cat Clarke.  Now, as a gay person, I do find myself gravitating towards books which include characters like myself, however this wasn’t a book I expected representation in, and I am not used to it being so naturally included.  The character’s sexuality had incredibly little effect on the storyline, and didn’t appear to be included simply for the intention of gaining LGBT readers, instead just being a minor point in their identity.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to everyone, especially to those with siblings, since I found myself regularly imagining how I would react to the situations Faith and Laurel experienced if it was myself involved.  However, be careful, if you are a sensitive person then this book may be a quite difficult read, in particular some in depth discussions on what Laurel went through during her time with her captor.

I would rate this book 🌟 4.5/5 🌟