Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pages: 309pgs
The Story
Fourteen-year-old Sarah Vale has gone missing in the small town of Banville. She's the daughter of the town whore so no one seems particularly concerned.
No one cares except Tommy Johns, who loves Sarah Vale with all the unadulterated, tentative passion of a teenage boy. He galvanises the town's policeman Sergeant Henson and, together, they turn the town inside out, searching for the lost girl.
No one cares except Tommy Johns, who loves Sarah Vale with all the unadulterated, tentative passion of a teenage boy. He galvanises the town's policeman Sergeant Henson and, together, they turn the town inside out, searching for the lost girl.
The Review
A big thanks to Macmillan Australia for sending me a review copy of this book!
A big thanks to Macmillan Australia for sending me a review copy of this book!
Even though I really like the fact that the author is from Brisbane and has studied at the same university as me, but sadly I didn't like this book. Not because it wasn't any good or anything like that because it definitely has a great feel about it, but it was more of 'it just wasn't for me' kind of book. So while I do find that THE VALE GIRL will certainly appeal to a lot of other readers - particularly those of the mystery and small-time thriller type of genres, but yeah . . . it just wasn't for me.
I think the main problem for me in connecting with this book had more to do with its characters than anything else. While these characters do definitely have interesting voices and stories to tell, and I was often intrigue about what was going on inside their heads for the most time, but there were other times too where I was a little confused by certain things going on or rather I began to lose interest in what was going to happen towards the end of the book which is my loss I guess. But with that being sad, there was definitely one element that caught my interest and that was the mystery that occurs in this small town of Banville and I love it when books aren't set in big-time cities all the time. It just adds even more mystery and mistrust to a book, and I do really applaud the author for writing such a story containing such a small town because it was quite different, both in voice and in the storyline within itself as well.
Overall, THE VALE GIRL may not have been for me, but I do really recommend it to readers looking for a new Australian book with a little twist to it.
The Rating
1/5 stars
I also like books with the same setting. It gives more mystery and it makes me really think about the characters' intentions. Too bad you didn't like this that much though.
ReplyDeleteI thought I would like this book, despite never hearing about it before. So a shame on my part. :/
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