Naomi Cottle has been running all her life. But now she has a purpose. She finds missing children. When the police have stopped searching, and the press have moved on, Naomi is the one person parents can turn to.
Somewhere out in the woods, the Snow Child is waiting. She doesn’t know who she is anymore and her past life seems to be like a dream. But she is laying a trail so that someone out there can find her…
The Child Finder is hauntingly beautiful; the chilling tale sucked me in and refused to let me go.
Denfeld has created a stunning world with characters so deep that there were times that I couldn’t tell who I should be rooting for. I really don’t think I have ever felt such empathy towards an antagonist. Mr B is both terrifying and pitiable and I was unsure as to whether I wanted to see him spend life behind bars or find a loving family like a child looking for an adoptive family.
Naomi was a well crafted character and I was intrigued by her story. The reason behind her choice of career was purposeful and understandable. I often wonder, after reading stories like this, what would happen to those traumatised children as their lives unfold and this was a clever way to attempt to answer this question. This was something I found myself asking of Snow Girl as I read her story; What will happen to Snow Girl if she lives? Is survival the best thing for her if she will forever have to live with this trauma? Going into this read, I hadn’t expected it to be so thought provoking.
The language and writing in this book were captivating. Denfeld has used beautiful imagery to convey life as Snow Girl and the word she inhabits. It was like being inside a snow globe in moments when she was ‘free’. Snow Girl was created in such a clever way that her expression and descriptions were both innocent as only a child can be and devastating in a way that only someone who has lived through such trauma can understand.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its Beauty and the Beast elements and enchanting descriptive language. This story will stay with me for a long time and I look forward to reading the sequel to follow more of Naomi’s journey.
CW: child abuse, child death, confinement, kidnapping.
Only If I Can Bring A Book 