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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting., July 14, 2004
Six and a half year old Sarah Sullivan is the focal point of many an argument between Jess, her overly protective mother, and Mike, her overly demanding father. Fiercely independent, the little girl leans towards her father in these battles, which is why she's overjoyed to learn that Mike is taking her sledding despite Jess' fears. The outing turns tragic, however, as Sarah is kidnapped shortly after Mike and she arrive at the sledding area. After the first frantic weeks, it becomes apparent that Sarah won't be coming back. Remembering Sarah sports a compelling premise enhanced by the presence of an equally compelling, emotionally tortured central character, Mike Sullivan. In addition to confronting a parent's worst nightmare, Mike is forced to face his own human frailties, and to reevaluate his basic assumptions about the world he inhabits. This slow, tortuous process almost destroys him, yet, in the end, proves his redemption, giving him the strength to face the stunning truths revealed to him over the course of the novel. Successfully combining elements of Jacquelyn Mitchard's The Deep End of the Ocean and Dennis Lehane's Mystic River, the novel examines the bonds and responsibilities of marriage, parenthood and friendship, and the wounds people inflict on one another, both intentionally and unintentionally. In the end, Mooney seems to suggest, it is how the offended party deals with those wounds that determines the course their lives will take. Recovery is possible, but sometimes only through a superhuman act of acceptance, and through a willingness to see things as they truly are.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mooney transformed into Lehane!, January 17, 2005
I stumbled across Chris Mooney's first book, Deviant Ways, after reading a number of positive reviews on Amazon, and I've anticipated his future novels since then. World Without End was a fast-paced thriller, similar in pace and style to Deviant Ways. Both books were your standard, better-than-average thriller. In Remembering Sarah, Mooney's 3rd book, he's taken his writing to a higher level.
Remembering Sarah centers around Mike Sullivan and a singular event that changes his life. Against his wife's strict instructions, he takes his daughter Sarah sledding one winter day. Sarah goes up the hill, but she never comes back down. Mooney's resulting story details the state of Mike's psyche five years after the day at the hill.
The characters are well-rendered: the heroes have flaws, the villains are dynamic, and the stock characters are interesting enough to bring extra life to the book. Mooney keeps you guessing with some interesting plot twists. However, the heart of the story is one man's emotion over losing his daughter and feeling 100% responsible for it. It's Mooney's heartfelt rendering of what his character is feeling that makes this a book that you can very quickly fall into.
I'm not certain if it was the setting (Massachusettes), the emotion of the story, or the feel that the people involved were strikingly real, but a lot of the style of this book reminded me of the writing of Dennis Lehane, particularly of Mystic River. If you enjoyed that, then I think you'll like this one as well.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Left me breathless, August 17, 2004
I am not a big mystery fan but, once I picked up Remembering Sarah, I was hooked well into the late night. I may not be the most astute mystery reviewer but a book that cannot be put down is well worth the accolades. Mooney dips into every parent's fear, that of not knowing where one's child is. Sarah's father, Mike, spends an eternity in the five years since his daughter's disappearance from a busy sledding hill searching for answers and confronting the corrections of the many suppositions in his life. He is heedless in his quest for an admission of guilt from the only suspect, a dying defrocked priest.
Mooney's story is filled with people who are rarely what they first appear to be and he keeps the reader reeling with upset theories until the end when he slams him with a tale least suspected but understandable in today's overly political climate. He draws Mike as a very complex character, driven by demons and guilt unknown to most of us, and tormented by professionals who continually let him down. Only his visceral and unending drive to find the truth keeps him in the pursuit and provides the reader with a believable yet troubled ending.
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