Sunday Synopsis

First There Was Silence by Leonie Haubrich
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think 3 stars may have been too generous. I almost gave up on this book. There were several characters that were difficult to keep separate due to their names and nicknames, and the author did nothing to endear any of the characters to the audience.

First you are introduced to a foster mom who doesn't want to return a baby to the parents. She seems a little nutty. The biological mom, you learn much later, had lost a child to SIDS during her first marriage. Her current husband knew nothing about it until their daughter is kidnapped. Most of the story is about the search for Lotta.

The characters are not developed such that you root for one over the other; in fact, I didn't really like any of the characters including the police. I honestly did not care if they ever found Lotta or not.

I believe this was written in German because they cover says, "translated by Ruth A. Gentes Krawczyk." Perhaps that was one reason I couldn't get into it. I sooo contemplated abandoning this book, and now that I've finished it, I would have been good with the choice to abandon. Sorry, folks. This one is slow, unrealistic, and not suspenseful.

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