Okay, I have so many thoughts and feelings towards this book. Honestly, I don’t know what to share in my intro because I just want to start talking about this book. I suspected that I would eat this book up in a short time and I was right. Here is my review on After Anna!
Summary of After Anna
After Anna is a thriller written by Alex Lake. We start the story with an interesting point of view. It’s from our mystery person, but the way it’s written, it keeps saying, you. For example. “You knew that you had not been seen.” So, you’re reading from our kidnapper’s point of view, but all the time feeling like you are the kidnapper. Then we cut to Julia Crowne, a divorce attorney in a meeting with her client and her client’s, soon to be, ex husband and his lawyer. She looks at the clock and knows she’s going to be late to pick up her 5 year old daughter from school.
She finally gets out of the meeting and grabs her phone to contact the school, but it’s dead. Jumping into her car, she starts charging her phone as she heads to the school. However, when she gets to the school she is met with every parent’s worst nightmare. Her daughter, Anna, is not there. The teachers thought she picked her up. Frantically she calls Brian, her husband, and asks if he took her. The two were about to be going through a divorce. He says no and that he will be right there. Julia and the teachers begin to search for Anna.
The First Half
So, the first half of the book is the frantic search for Anna, with snippets of the kidnapper’s point of view watching it all. Detective Inspector Wynne takes on the case and works with Julia and Brian to try and find their daughter. Then someone starts leaking news to the press, painting Julia as a negligent mother who was going to leave her family. Because Brian knew that Julia wanted a divorce, and because he blames Julia for Anna’s disappearance, he is no comfort to her. The two butt heads so much that Brian decides to go stay with his mum rather than with Julia. He doesn’t think he will ever see his daughter again. Then Julia gets a phone call. Anna has been found.
The Second Half
The second half of the book is the insane aftermath. Brian’s mum, Edna, and him work against Julia. She wants Brian and her to hold off on the divorce for Anna’s sake. After all, she has been through so much already. Edna has other ideas and Brian is a mummy’s boy. They take Anna and threaten to take full custody of her and never let Julia see her daughter again. And they have so much to work with because of how the press represented Anna due to someone leaking information. Julia tries to figure out how to beat this so she can get her daughter back, all while wondering why someone would take her daughter for a week and then return her.
What I Liked
Alex Lake really took me on a roller coaster ride, emotionally and mentally. The chapters were long, but the story was written in such a way that I didn’t really notice. Well, until my alarm for work would go off and I realised that I had no chance of finishing that chapter quickly before going to work. The whole time I was trying to figure out who this kidnapper could be, what was their motive. There were a few times I was like, it’s probably this person. Then I shook my head and said, no that’s too obvious. When the reveal happened, other bombs were dropped. Some I suspected, but I was still shocked. I did not want to put this book down.
What I Disliked
As intense and page turning as this story was, there was something that bothered me. Julia’s character. Usually in a book the main character goes through something and you see growth in them as a character. However, I didn’t see that in Julia until practically the end of the book. I think it was the third last chapter that I saw some growth in her. Other than taking ownership for Anna’s disappearance, because it wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t been late, Julia blamed everything on others. It was her Brian’s fault they were getting a divorce. Edna was to blame for this. Brian was to blame for that. It was infuriating.
The only other complaint I had about this book was I found a few editing mistakes. Words misspelled or incorrectly put in the sentence. Sometimes I would reread a sentence a few times, trying to see if it was on purpose, but it wouldn’t make sense. Otherwise, a great read.
Rating of After Anna
I gave After Anna a 4 star rating on Goodreads. After thinking about it though, this is probably more of a 4.5 or even 4.75 star book in my opinion. The story was well written, the suspense kept me turning the page. In fact, there were a few times I said I would just read one chapter but it quickly turned to more. After Anna was a book that was easy to read and the story was so intense that I didn’t want to put the book down. If you’re looking for a great thriller, this is the one. I highly recommend it.
Next
I have not picked my next read yet. I’m thinking either another Ruth Rendell mystery or Dexter. And I’ll have some more review blogs coming soon as well, although one of those will only come out on Monday, as I’m checking out something new on Saturday night. I’m very excited about that. And I’ve got to prepare my lesson as I’m teaching on Sunday morning. That should be fun. This year I have just the grade one boys, and they are a riot. So, enjoy the rest of your week and I’ll be back Saturday with some sort of blog. I should probably figure that out. Take care, my friends, and remember that anything can happen if we try.
