Descent
Tim Johnston
Caitlin and Sean go for an early morning run, yet only Sean returns. Years on, nothing has changed and her family is continuing to rip apart at the seams. The locals have given up the search, but her father remains looking for closure.
What I liked about this novel were the wide range of characters included. It felt like you were really getting entwined in the communities. They weren’t just one-dimensional characters brought in to further the story, it felt like they actually contributed to the lives of the family.
What I didn’t like about this novel was the pace. I started reading the novel, and didn’t get past ‘The Life Before’. I picked it up again and got about half way through. I just couldn’t get myself moving! That might have had something to do with the style of writing, particularly of Sean’s character.
This one of the better abduction novels I’ve read lately, although I wouldn’t classify it as a thriller the same way I would Babydoll. Far, far better than the last good day of the year, and better than The Leaving.
There’s a set of discussion questions in the back, which I appreciated. The one that resonated with me was the fact that Caitlin got into the car with her abductor, and whether I would have done the same thing. I considered that she had no way to know that this man was going to hurt her, so it was reasonable. If it was the only way she thought she had of getting help it’s what I would have done too. Maybe. All these abduction novels are setting me on edge!
I’m finding it hard to give this novel a star rating. It took a long time for me to be enthralled. I could give it 4 stars, because its so much better than the other offerings, but then again it didn’t grab me as hard as it should have. Rather, let’s give it 3.5 stars.
Here the multiple perspectives worked quite well, but not flawlessly. I could have done without some in favour of some more from Lily’s captor. I imagine that he would have been the hardest character to write, as he needed to be realistic and yet creepily absent at the same time. He reminded me of 
This novel was trying to see itself by other reviewers as a ‘thriller [and] a titillating delight’. Sorry, the sexual tension that Kendra seems to feel towards Lynch isn’t even that tensioned for me as a reader. I saw it, yes, but the gripping storyline was what did it for me.
If this novel had been billed as an expose of what it looks like when a family is ripped apart by a disappearance, then maybe I could have gotten into it. Even then, it was too caught up in what Sam felt for anything else to really come through. I never want to be in that position.
This was such a slow novel. I was halfway through and saying to my partner that I wasn’t sure I could face keeping on reading it. I started out being a bit wary of it, because of the changing perspectives.
I wasn’t won over by the way there were ‘bytes’ of information from the way that Scarlett and Lucas thought. I didn’t like the consciousnesses changing, and I thought Avery was an idiot. A rich, spoilt idiot.
Normally I couldn’t tell you the names of half the characters, but the advantage of this novel being pretty much from Monica’s perspective (which is limited to dealing with people as she can’t really go out very much) meant that I got a good solid grasp of them in my mind. When the perspective changes up, you still don’t know the whole story or a truth.
The whole time, I was on Laura’s side. I couldn’t believe how shallow some people were. But at the same time, I couldn’t believe how stupid Laura was. As if you would let an unknown person unlimited access to your computer! And use the same password for everything. And not have backups!
The twists and turns in this novel, both in time and perspective, made my head spin. Helen holds onto herself with difficulty, and you can really feel that happening. It’s nicely balanced between inaudible ramblings inside her mind, and outer thoughts that she can’t keep in. Not to mention how she interacts with other people.