Nic JosephCritiques
Auteur de Boy, 9, Missing
Critiques
In 1992, ten year old Lucas Scroll mysteriously drowns in his parents' bathtub during a dinner party. The only possible witness, Sam Farr, refuses to talk about what happened.Twenty-three years later, Sam's nine year old son, Matthew, is missing and the prime suspect in the case is Lucas's father, Alex. Desperate for answers, the Farrs hope Alex's oldest son, Francis, can help them locate their missing child. After his family fell apart following his brother's death, Francis changed his last name to Clarke in order to escape notoriety and he eventually became estranged from both his parents. However, despite this lack of contact with his dad, Francis is not convinced he has anything to do with Matthew's disappearance so he begins his own investigation into the suspected kidnapping.
In the years following his brother's death, Francis watched his parents do everything in their power to bring Sam to justice, but he was ultimately found not guilty of murdering Lucas. After years of living away from his small hometown, he has recently returned following his divorce. With his daughter Amy en route to live with him, Francis is soon consumed with tracking down his father. Having kept his family's tragic past hidden, he knows he will have to tell Amy the truth sooner rather than later. However, Francis leaves her to settle in on her own as he follows the leads he uncovers.
Francis has little luck locating Alex but he has plenty to keep him occupied as he learns troubling information at Matthew's school. There is an ugly rumor that the school's principal might be involved with inappropriate relationships with her students, but does this have anything to do with Matthew's disappearance? As he is digging around in his father's life, Francis discovers Alex has not given up on trying to force Sam to tell him what happened the night Lucas died but would he kidnap his son in order to leverage him into talking? The more Francis pokes around in the events surrounding his brother's death, the more secrets and lies he unearths but will these discoveries help him find Matthew?
Although a little slow paced in the beginning, Boy, 9, Missing does eventually pick up steam as Francis frantically searches for his father and the truth about what happened to Matthew. With well-placed red herrings and stunning plot twists, Nic Joseph keeps readers guessing whodunit and why right up until the novel's dramatic and action-packed conclusion. A well-written mystery with a unique storyline, this debut mystery is sure to be a hit with fans of the genre.
The Last Day of Emily Lindsey by Nic Joseph is an enthralling mystery about popular blogger Emily Lindsey who is found covered in blood yet she has no injuries. Clearly traumatized, she remains in the hospital with her husband by her side as detectives Steven Paul and his partner Gayla Ocasio are assigned to the case.
Due to his worsening nightmares and horrifying visions, Steven is in danger of losing his job following his involvement in an incident with a bank robber. Undergoing department ordered counseling, he continues his lifelong habit of keeping his problems to himself. When he and Gayla meet Emily at the hospital, she is unresponsive to their questions and Steven is taken aback to learn his name was discovered in her possession. Immediately following their meeting, Emily begins drawing a symbol that is all too familiar to Steven since he has been seeing it in his nightmares. Delving into her blog, he and Gayla find a starting point for their investigation, but they continue to hit a brick wall when trying to trace her movements prior to her admittance to the hospital.
The chapters alternate between the investigation in the present and a group of five children who are appear to be involved in some type of cult. One of the children, Jack, is trying to find out what happened to his mother, who disappeared without a trace a couple of years earlier. Her disappearance is somehow connected to the mysterious happenings that occur every year on June 2nd. The chapters devoted to this part of the storyline follow the children and their efforts to devise a plan to sneak into the upcoming secret June 2nd meeting.
In the present, Steven and Gayla are frustrated by the lack of progress on Emily’s case. Steven is also struggling to keep his nightmares and visions at bay amid concerns that Gayla will tell his therapist about his ongoing problems. Their investigation about what happened to Emily moves in fits and starts as they continue to run into dead ends. Steven is bothered by some inconsistencies he uncovers and he is also troubled by a mysterious man who keeps turning up at odd times. Their lead from Emily’s blog is initially promising but will it hold up under closer scrutiny?
The Last Day of Emily Lindsey by Nic Jospeh is a fast-paced and intriguing mystery. The story weaves seamlessly back and forth in time but it is initially impossible to understand how the two storylines will eventually intersect. The novel comes to a twist-filled and exciting conclusion that satisfactorily brings the divergent story arcs together. All in all, a compelling police procedural that fans of the genre will enjoy.
Paula is working a second job as a Drive Away Car ride-share driver to make some extra money to pay her husband Keith's medical bills. On her last fare of the night she picks up a man who called himself "Lotti" and drops him off at a gold coast apartment building where, obviously, a woman is looking out the window, waiting for him. The next day she realizes that her fare was actually Grammy Award–winning pop singer Ryan Hooks and the woman he was meeting was not his equally famous wife. Paula considers what to do with this information, as any honest woman would, but when she finds his phone in her car, she knows exactly what she'll do. She will offer to give him back his phone for a $180,000 "reward." The $180,000 will pay for an operation that would allow Keith, who is wheelchair-bound after his accident, to walk again.
When a woman is found murdered in the apartment building later, and when someone breaks into her apartment, Paula is sure Ryan is responsible. She reports her suspicions to Detective Claire Puhl, who is investigating the murder, and Paula is called in for an interview. The novel alternates between Puhl's murder investigation and Paula's story.
The tone in this thriller is light and sometimes humorous. Paula is very concerned that the reader knows that she is a good person, that she would never lie about important things, and that she really needs the money to help Keith. When she inserts herself into meeting the residents of the Gold Coast apartment building where she dropped off Hooks, her intentions seem dubious at best. All the narrators, with the exception of Puhl, are unreliable and operating on several different agendas.
The Night in Question is a nice mystery and has some twists and surprises along the way without a huge build-up of suspense. The ending is surprising and worth getting through some of Paula's endless rationalizing about how she really is a good person, even though she is doing all these questionable and illegal actions.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Sourcebooks.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/09/the-night-in-question.html
The set up and character introduction was done so well and in a way that made me instantly both love some and hate others. The background of how Francis, his family, and Sam came to be involved with each other's adult lives was heartbreaking and tragic.
The writing itself was very well done and flowed smoothly. I devoured this story so quickly because those elements combined with a compelling story hooked me from page one. I found myself trying to solve the "who done it" element along with Francis, but every one of my guesses was wrong and the perp was totally not who I expected it to be, though a part of me is happy for what eventually happened to that person.
I enjoyed the ending a great deal too. The story kept my heart racing right up to the conclusion and the epilogue was a great thing to read because it made me feel a little happy for Francis.
The set up and character introduction was done so well and in a way that made me instantly both love some and hate others. The background of how Francis, his family, and Sam came to be involved with each other's adult lives was heartbreaking and tragic.
The writing itself was very well done and flowed smoothly. I devoured this story so quickly because those elements combined with a compelling story hooked me from page one. I found myself trying to solve the "who done it" element along with Francis, but every one of my guesses was wrong and the perp was totally not who I expected it to be, though a part of me is happy for what eventually happened to that person.
I enjoyed the ending a great deal too. The story kept my heart racing right up to the conclusion and the epilogue was a great thing to read because it made me feel a little happy for Francis.
Actually dual storylines, because the book opens with a group of children, one Jack, who really needs to find out what happens on June 2nd, because even though the children are parented communal style, his real mother disappeared after the last such day.
In the present, a plot that is equally as enthralling, with a very unique police officer. Suspenseful, avidly turning pages, each story equally captivating. Waiting and wondering how they pull together, had some guesses, but on right in the most general way. After many twists and turns, misdirections, we come to the end, the big reveal. Well, let's just say that up to this point my rating would have been closer to a five, but while some of the ending pages were satisfying, one plot point was a problem for me, had to question it, didn't quite hold together. Still giving this a four because I had so much fun and anxiety getting to this point.
Another sister read and I am enjoying these reads and everyone's thoughts, immensely.
ARC from Edelweiss.
Reading through a few reviews of this book on Goodreads convinced me I should give it a try, and once more my GR friends steered me in the right direction.
This is a riveting psychological thriller, very atmospheric, and taut with suspense.
Twenty odd years ago, Francis’ brother died in a bizarre bathtub drowning, while his parents were hosting a dinner party.
Nine year old Sam had come to the dinner party with his parents, and was apparently the last person to see Lucas alive. Immediately, Sam is scrutinized because he was covered in water when he announced to the adults that something bad had happened.
For years, Francis witnessed his parent’s futile attempts to bring Sam to justice for the murder of their son. But, eventually the case was closed, drawing the conclusion it was a sad and tragic accident.
Now, Sam’s own nine year old son has gone missing, prompting his wife to ask Francis for help, convinced that his father, Alex, has her son. Frantic with worry for his father and for the missing child, Francis combs the city looking for clues to their whereabouts, while dealing with the arrival of his stoic teenage daughter, who has no idea what is going on.
Along the way, Francis discovers a world of dark secrets and lies that have lain dormant all these years, as he faces a truth too shocking to be believed, when his past and present suffer a head on collision. Will Francis survive? Will the truth set them free or are some things better left unsaid?
I was impressed with this debut thriller, practically reading the entire book all at once. The author did a pretty good job with the pacing, most of the time, expertly dropping clues and red herrings in just the right places at just the right time, building the suspense to a fever pitch.
However, there are a few occasions when the momentum is impeded by the secondary threads and Francis’ personal issues. The story was almost too busy sometimes, but eventually got back on point.
Other than that, this is a tense psychological thriller, I think most fans of the genre will enjoy. For a debut novel this one is pretty solid, so I’m going to keep my eye on this author. The talent is there, so hopefully, there will be more of his books coming our way.
4 stars
BOY 9 MISSING, establishes Nic Joseph as important key young novelist and storyteller, with her emotional domestic suspense debut!
A powerful, haunting tale of family, enduring love, and destructive secrets. A deeply moving examination of parenthood, and the dangers that are always lurking in the shadows. The author grabs you immediately with the first sentence.
“A brother drowns in a bathtub that was less than one foot longer than he was tall.”
An ordinary family trapped in a heart-wrenching crisis.
Who is guilty and who is innocent?
BOY 9 MISSING A human drama that pulls on larger themes of life and what it means to be a family. Exploring the family seams and fissures, between childhood and adulthood. Love and loss. Darkness and light. Exceptionally moving. An unrelentingly suspenseful thriller.
A mother pregnant at the time with Lucas when they originally bought the house. His mom wanted the tub. Lucas was small for his age. Francis was thirteen years old and his little brother, Lucas was nine at the time of his death. Drowned in this very tub. How did this happen?
During a dinner party twenty some years earlier, in Lansing, Illinois. Two families. A puppet show. This is when Francis’ claustrophobia and panic attacks started. Lives were changed after this one tragic night. Alex, the father had always blamed Sam.
Sam Farr was a year older than Lucas—a quiet, anxious kid. The son of Francis parent’s church friends, Brian and Elizabeth. Since the moment he ran downstairs his face was blanched with terror, and his clothing drenched and clinging to his small frame. He had not said a single word. What happened in the bathroom?
What if Sam had said something that night? A boy struggling with a hidden secret his entire life.
The parents went to court. At war with a ten-year-old boy. Was there something inside the mind of Sam—vindictive, troubling, disgusting, and terrifying?All his parents wanted was an admission of guilt, or even a denial. A plea for forgiveness. Nothing. It never happened. Not in twenty-three years, a single word to a single soul what happened that night upstairs in Francis’s parent’s bathroom.
That awful night. A monster. The parents lost the case. An accident. Everyone is left with the fallout. The guilt. A tragedy experienced by two families.
When nothing is as is appears.
By the time Francis started seeing therapists, he was Francis Clarke. He had to escape the media for his own sanity. From claustrophobia, to ceasing to ride trains and elevators. Dirt phobias. It started after Lucas. Alex, the father turned into a drunk. A family torn apart. Francis is now working for the paper, a reporter. Divorced. A child. A daughter.
Now, years later, Sam’s nine-year-old son Matthew has gone missing. Sam’s wife Miranda is coming after his father through him. They have gone to the police and no one is doing anything. They think for sure Alex has their child. Revenge.
He went missing three days earlier. Alex had apparently been following and stalking them for weeks.
Told by Francis, he moves back to the Chicago area and is tracked down by Sam’s parents. The Lansing Police Department would probably do anything to protect his father, if Sam Farr was involved.
Francis had not seen Sam since the day his trial ended. He still looked the same except older and thicker in the middle. Could the man (Alex, his own father) who had it in for this family have kidnapped their boy? Has he really carried a grudge all these years- Revenge?
Francis meets Kira who is doing some research about Sam and his family. Sam and Miranda has hired her to ghostwrite a book. Sam’s memoir. To tell Sam’s story once and for all. The Sam Farr Story. Francis wants to help, get to the bottom of this mystery. He is desperate to right a wrong. Kira is interested in his thoughts and the accusations against his father. Francis wants Matthew found. He also wants to find his father.
Readers get a glimpse of the mysterious night (with parts of the book, written by Kira -in red) as the events of the past unravel. A book within a book. Francis is trying to do the right thing, but doesn’t really know why. He wants to make up for the fact he was not there in the past.
What is the real truth? Francis has to solve the mystery. Where were his parents that night? What really happened. An angry father. This is one heck of a thriller (could see a movie here) based on the novel.
The mystery is suspenseful, chilling, and heart pounding -- pulling you into this dark web of secrets and lies. A son caught in the middle and drowning himself, pulled under by the tug of love, regret, and guilt. Readers will be anxious to solve the complex mystery of these two families and the deception which lies between them. An evocative novel of redemption and forgiveness, with two families poised to implode. An older son left behind trying to put the pieces together, even in his own life with his own daughter, Amy.
“You’re only two things after a divorce. You’re better, or you’re broken. And if you’re broken, you just haven’t gotten better yet.”
Part intimate family drama, equal parts a gripping page-turner, and an exploration of the profound power of the truths we’re scared to face. There is much more going on here than a boy drowning, and a missing boy years later. Action-packed, a wrenching look, at what happens to the families and everyone connected by these two events. And as their lives become more intertwined, each is pushed to the breaking point, with shattering, unforeseeable consequences.
I was up until 4 am and could not put this one down until the final heartfelt conclusion. Joseph is definitely an author to follow! For fans of deeper richer family sagas, such as T. Greenwood, Carla Buckley, Heather Gudenkauf, Diane Chamberlain, and Sophie Littlefield. Some of my favorites.
Wow, this is the third book in a row, I have read about family secrets involving a child. Makes you wonder really what happens with all of the missing children and unsolved murder cases in our world today. So many times it is a cover-up, and may not be discovered until many years later.
An ideal choice for book clubs and further discussions. An extensive reading group guide included and a Conversation with the Author. I wish more authors would include these two critical elements at the end of their books. Well done! Can’t wait to see what’s next.
JDCMustReadBooks
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What happens when your past is never fully tucked away and it seeps into your present? Francis learned that the hard way when divorce brings him back to his childhood home town and the past slaps you in the face.
Alex and Kate Scroll experience every parent's worst nightmare. Their youngest son, Lucas, is found dead in their bathtub when he's 9 years old, seemingly the victim of a tragic accident while his parents were downstairs having a dinner party. But there would be no closure for the Scroll family. The young boy who finds Lucas's body, Sam Farr, son of that night's dinner guests, won't talk. Sam won't say what he saw, if anything, no matter who screams at him or threatens him. Thus, in desperation, the Scrolls wage a campaign against the boy, even having him prosecuted. But nothing sticks. Sam stays silent. And free: to grow up, to live his life, to have a son. The tragedy continues when Sam’s son Mathew is kidnapped and the prime suspect Alex Scroll. The man who seeks solace in a bottle Kate who seeks healing in the form of younger men.
How many generations must suffer to get closure to a twenty-three year old mystery? The book is intriguing and well written. It keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. For anyone who likes a face paced page turner that leaves you with no sleep this is the book for you.