What I thought was going to be the story of a wounded warrior and a dog finding a missing child was not that at all.
A condensed version of the book’s description – LeAnne Hogan went to Afghanistan and came back missing an eye and with half her face badly scarred. Shattered by the sudden death of her hospital roommate, Marci, LeAnne finds herself driving across the country. When she arrives in Washington state that Marci called home, she makes the discovery that Marci’s eight-year-old daughter has vanished. When a stray dog seems to adopt LeAnne she becomes obsessed with finding Marci’s daughter.
This description is VERY misleading. As I said in the opening of this review, I thought I was going to get a mystery featuring a healing woman, a missing child and a dog. Instead I got a very confusing mix of info concerning LeAnne’s life. LeAnne’s story is told in flashbacks that were off putting and interrupted the flow of the story. Actually, flashbacks is the wrong word. It wasn’t flashbacks so much as it felt like the author just slapped something in the middle of a section I didn’t feel like it belonged in. It had a very disorganized feeling and I hate disorganization.
Now for the unbelievability factor. LeAnne is so distraught by the death of Marci that she goes across country to her hometown? I didn’t feel a connection between the two women at all. There wasn’t enough interaction between them for me to feel that would lead LeAnne to search out Marci’s hometown. In my opinion this book could have been much better with a focus on LeAnne and Marci getting to know each other, and the mystery surrounding Mia’s disappearance. But that’s not what readers are given. Instead, LeAnne this, LeAnne that until we finally meet the dog at the 50% mark and find out Mia is missing at 62%. I wish Mia’s disappearance and the dog could have been the focus of this book. More unbelievability were LeAnne’s injuries and all her activity afterwards. I just couldn’t …
This was my first book by Quinn and I might be willing to give him a second chance, but if he doesn’t grab me instantly in the next book, I won’t be finishing it. This book was a struggle to finish, but I kept reading in the hopes it would finally get to the mystery I wanted to read about. The mystery, when it finally made an appearance was lacking.
Advanced copy of this book provided by NetGalley.
Rating: 2 stars
Reviewer: Jennifer
Title: The Right Side
Author: Spencer Quinn
Release Date: June 27, 2017
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