Four years after Tom and Abby's 12-year-old daughter vanishes, she is found alive but strangely calm. When the teen refuses to testify against the man connected to her disappearance, Tom decides to investigate the traumatizing case on his own. Nothing can prepare him for what he is about to discover.
Cemetery Girl
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Review
"Cemetery Girl is a smasher. It twists and turns and never lets go, and...it could happen just this way."—Jacquelyn Mitchard, New York Times bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean
"Cemetery Girl is more than just an utterly compelling thriller-- and it certainly is that. David Bell's stellar novel is also a haunting meditation on the ties that bind parent to child, husband to wife, brother to brother--and what survives even under the most shattering possible circumstance. An absolutely riveting, absorbing read not to be missed."—Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Darkness, My Old Friend
"Trust me: you have never read a missing persons story like this one....A fast, mean head trip of a thriller that reads like a collaboration between Michael Connelly and the gothic fiction of Joyce Carol Oates, Cemetery Girl is one of those novels that you cannot shake after it's over. A winner on every level."
(-Will Lavender, NYT bestselling author of Dominance )"Cemetery Girl grabbed me by the throat on page one and never let up. An intense, unrelenting powerhouse of a book, and the work of a master."
(-John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author of Damage )"A smart, tense, creepy take on the story of a missing daughter, told by her far-from-perfect father. If you think you know this tale--from all- too-familiar newspaper accounts, from lesser movies and books--then this terrific novel will make you think otherwise."—Brock Clarke, national bestselling author of Exley and An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
About the Author
David Bell is an assistant professor of English at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He received an M.A. in creative writing from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a Ph.D. in American Literature and creative writing from the University of Cincinnati. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
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More About the Author
David Bell is the author of THE HIDING PLACE and CEMETERY GIRL both from NAL/Penguin. He is an Assistant Professor of English at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky and can be reached through his website www.davidbellnovels.com.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By Mason Canyon
Format:Paperback
Losing a child is devastating for the parents, but is it worse when the child simply disappears?
Leading an idealistic life, Tom and Abby Stuart have it all - a good marriage, successful careers, nice home and a delightful 12-year-old daughter, Caitlin. Then their world is scattered. Caitlin takes the family dog, Frosty, out for a walk and only the dog returns home.
Four years later Caitlin is discovered alive. She's disheveled, dirty, but unnaturally calm. She won't discuss the four years she's been gone or what happened to her. When an arrest is finally made in the case, Caitlin refuses to testify against the man.
Caitlin's disappearance had taken it's toll on the Stuart marriage. With her return, additional conflict is added and the marriage dissolves. Needing answers and fearing his daughter might have been involved in her own disappearance, Tom begins to investigate on his own. His determination could cause him to lose Caitlin again, land himself in jail and uncover information that will shock him.
CEMETERY GIRL is a nail-biting, grip your seat read. Parents will be shaking their heads in disbelief while keeping an extra watch on their youngsters because of the plausibility of the story.
Author David Bell tells the story from the father's point of view. Readers will feel his agony, as well as a roller coaster of other emotions. CEMETERY GIRL puts a new spin on how readers will look at children's disappearances.
Author David Bell's website is [...]
Cemetery Girl by David Bell, NAL Trade, @2011, ISBN: 9780451234674, Paperback, 400 pages
FTC Full Disclosure - This book was sent to me by the publisher in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review.
Leading an idealistic life, Tom and Abby Stuart have it all - a good marriage, successful careers, nice home and a delightful 12-year-old daughter, Caitlin. Then their world is scattered. Caitlin takes the family dog, Frosty, out for a walk and only the dog returns home.
Four years later Caitlin is discovered alive. She's disheveled, dirty, but unnaturally calm. She won't discuss the four years she's been gone or what happened to her. When an arrest is finally made in the case, Caitlin refuses to testify against the man.
Caitlin's disappearance had taken it's toll on the Stuart marriage. With her return, additional conflict is added and the marriage dissolves. Needing answers and fearing his daughter might have been involved in her own disappearance, Tom begins to investigate on his own. His determination could cause him to lose Caitlin again, land himself in jail and uncover information that will shock him.
CEMETERY GIRL is a nail-biting, grip your seat read. Parents will be shaking their heads in disbelief while keeping an extra watch on their youngsters because of the plausibility of the story.
Author David Bell tells the story from the father's point of view. Readers will feel his agony, as well as a roller coaster of other emotions. CEMETERY GIRL puts a new spin on how readers will look at children's disappearances.
Author David Bell's website is [...]
Cemetery Girl by David Bell, NAL Trade, @2011, ISBN: 9780451234674, Paperback, 400 pages
FTC Full Disclosure - This book was sent to me by the publisher in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review.
39 of 43 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I got Cemetary Girl on Wednesday. Started reading it on Thursday and just finished it on Sunday. And that was reading nights only. Needless to say, I didn't get my usual eight hours sleep because I couldn't put the darned thing down. The author's writing style is compelling, and he is a genius at writing short, cliff-hanger chapters that leave the reader saying, "I can read one more chapter before I turn out the light."
Based on the novel's back-cover copy, I expected the typical strong marriage deteriorates after child disappears. When child is found four years later "dirty and disheveled yet preternaturally calm," parents must come to terms with what their little girl, now sixteen, has suffered. What I didn't expect, and what drove me nuts, was the deep psychological changes the father goes through when he reunites with his damaged daughter.
From my persepective, this novel is less about what happens to a family after child abduction as it is about what one man, himself abused during childhood, goes through when he is forced to come to terms with the fact that Daddy's Little Girl has been seduced by another man. This character is obsessed with finding out the details of his daughter's four-year captivity. He is so obsessed that he lies to his wife, the police, his brother and his daughter (among others) to get what he wants. He even goes as far as using his only child as leverage and putting her in danger in order to gain detailed information about her sorid life during those years. If this book is a thriller,it is a phychological thriller that left me feeling frustrated. I don't doubt this man's journey, but it saddens me.
However, and I love this about the novel, when I finished the final page, I had a smile on my face and hope in my heart.
Based on the novel's back-cover copy, I expected the typical strong marriage deteriorates after child disappears. When child is found four years later "dirty and disheveled yet preternaturally calm," parents must come to terms with what their little girl, now sixteen, has suffered. What I didn't expect, and what drove me nuts, was the deep psychological changes the father goes through when he reunites with his damaged daughter.
From my persepective, this novel is less about what happens to a family after child abduction as it is about what one man, himself abused during childhood, goes through when he is forced to come to terms with the fact that Daddy's Little Girl has been seduced by another man. This character is obsessed with finding out the details of his daughter's four-year captivity. He is so obsessed that he lies to his wife, the police, his brother and his daughter (among others) to get what he wants. He even goes as far as using his only child as leverage and putting her in danger in order to gain detailed information about her sorid life during those years. If this book is a thriller,it is a phychological thriller that left me feeling frustrated. I don't doubt this man's journey, but it saddens me.
However, and I love this about the novel, when I finished the final page, I had a smile on my face and hope in my heart.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
The most unlikable characters I've ever come across in a novel!!
December 29, 2011
By J. Elattar
Format:Paperback
I was looking forward to reading this book based on its reviews and because I thought I would get some kind of insight into the mind of an abductor and his victim. I don't think that I've come across characters that I've liked less or cared less about than the characters in this novel, that includes the mother, father, and Caitlin (the returned abducted teenage daughter). I felt that the dialogue was being repeated in every chapter by the characters and it was tiresome. By the middle of the novel, I found that I was forcing myself to finish the book and hoping to find some kind of understanding of the subject of child abduction and the people who commit such an act.....I didn't. I guess you can try to read this book if you have nothing else to read, but I didn't enjoy it in the least.
26 of 32 people found the following review helpful
By Teacher&Mom
Format:Paperback
This is an awful book. Unrealistic dialogue, unrealistic characters, unlikable characters. I just couldn't seem to care anything about the people in this story. Also, there are a lot of undeveloped story lines. I understand that they were added to try to create mystery but mostly it just created annoyance because they were either unresolved or wound up being stupid. Being able to weave it all together is a mark of a good author. It didn't happen here. I made myself finish the book because I had paid for it but really it was a double punishment, waste of my money and my time! Hopefully this will save you, dear reader, from a similar fate!!!
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Trigger warning. This book, concerning the abduction of a young girl, was obviously inspired by the Elizabeth Smart abduction case in Utah, my home state. Like that situation, the young girl is kidnapped, sexually abused--in this book, for several years--and then denies her identity at first when she is found. Unfortunately, the similarities stop there. The father in this book is far less concerned about his daughter than he is in finding out the specific details of what happened to her. Yum yum, what a fine dad. I won't go into further details other than to say that I found the father's behavior warped in the extreme. In fact, I found myself thinking that with parents like the ones this girl had it was hardly surprising that she was willing to get into a car with a strange man. In general, I found the author's portrayals and thinking very odd. The opening chapter of the book recounts, from the father's view, an incident where his little daughter lied to him. Was the author trying to imply that little girls who lie to their daddies deserve punishment of whatever sort they get? Ugh, particularly in view of the fact that lying is quite normal for young children and should hardly be taken as an indication of a character flaw. Not much else I could say about this mess except that ironically the most admirable and human character in the book was the family dog, and that I found myself wishing for some brain bleach so I could wash the whole thing right out of my mind.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing read
This book was horribly written and I was disappointed with the ending. Everything you read in the previews sums it up. Nothing is resolved. Read more
Published 9 days ago by Jill Kimberlin
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting read
Interesting read. I had no idea it was mandatory to write a review AND there is a minimum word requirement!!
Published 9 days ago by Julie Grant
3.0 out of 5 stars
Kept waiting for the story to start
Many of my friends raved about this book, so I gave it a try....I was underwhelmed. I didn't have any sympathy either for the protagonist (the father) or the daughter who returns. Read more
Published 13 days ago by Leslie A Jones
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
But it didn't end like I thought it would, very well written. I will probably read more of Bells work
Published 20 days ago by chriscel
2.0 out of 5 stars
Waste!!!
I started reading this book knowing that the girl would come back so when it started off slow I figured no big deal but then when I got to the part I knew was coming I started to... Read more
Published 24 days ago by Brooklyn
4.0 out of 5 stars
good read
David Bell has a good grasp of how to weave a tale of family dysfunction and suspense. Unraveling the family secrets is how you learn about the damage they can do. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Dawn Dunk
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent ....
This is the first David Bell book I have read and it brought me back for more!!! Excellent story ... holds your interest ... great book.
Published 1 month ago by C. Kellner
1.0 out of 5 stars
Blah...
I didn't care for this book. I thought a lot of it just didn't add up. The way the parents were portrayed in this story just seemed so far fetched and I don't think the writing... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Carol Hoffman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read It!
Addicting. Couldn't put it down. David Bell is a great author and I look forward to reading other works by him.
Published 1 month ago by Buttons_aren't_Toys
1.0 out of 5 stars
Bizarre Story Line
If you want to read an author's idea of how a disturbed Dad would feel and behave if his daughter was abducted, then returned years later, then this is the book for you. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Grandma Ginny
