Customer Reviews

Remembering Sarah: A Thriller

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Chris Mooney, in his latest book, Remembering Sarah, delivers a riveting and emotion-charged thriller based on every parent's worst fear -- the disappearance of a child. In many ways it reminds me of Mystic River by Dennis Lehane, although it is not quite as good. Mooney's main character, Mike Sullivan, the father of the missing child, is very well-deveolped and one you'll remember for a long time. In addition to being a very good thriller, Mooney's story is also tale of loss and undying hope. The only factor that keeps me from giving Remembering Sarah a 5-star rating is that the ending is a bit abrupt and leaves some "loose threads dangling." Nonetheless, this is a book that I'd recommend you put high up on your reading list. Enjoy!

Mike Sullivan's six year old daughter, Sarah, has disappeared while sledding. He took her sledding against her mother's wishes and now he must deal with the guilt and blame. Five years pass. The most likely suspect is Francis Jonah, a defrocked priest who is dying of cancer. Mike is under strict observation for alcohol abuse after beating Jonah to an inch of his life several years before. If Mike drinks or comes near the priest he will go to jail. With jail Mike would lose the last chance to find out what happened to Sarah. On the anniversary of her disappearance Sarah's pink jacket is found on the hill by Jonah. Mike is increasingly desperate to discover the truth before it is too late.

REMEMBERING SARAH is a heartbreaking story of suffering. Mike Sullivan, a highly sympathetic character, is beautifully and skillfully depicted as is the supporting cast of his ex-wife, abusive father and the suspect priest. It is the highly complex emotions that drive this compelling plot. There are adequate twists and turns as we reach the ending which should bring tears to the reader's eyes. A very worthy nominee for the Edgar Award.

Though different in scope from DEVIANT WAYS & WORLD WITHOUT END, Chris Mooney's newest novel clearly proves that this author's name is becoming synonymous with edge-of-your-seat suspense. REMEMBERING SARAH is the story of Mike Sullivan--a man whose life has been filled with turmoil and tragedy. As an eight-year-old boy, Mike experienced the abandonment of his mother, who left him and his criminally inclined father without so much as a word or note. Then, as a teenager, Mike accidentally discovered information which led him to believe his father tracked down and murdered his mother. Things wouldn't be any easier for him as an adult. Ignoring his wife's fears, Mike decides to take his six-year-old daughter, Sarah, sledding one cold day as a snow storm is getting ready to hit Belham, Massachusetts. Despite the large crowd of kids and their parents playing on a snow-covered hill, a predator manages to grab Sarah Sullivan and disappear with her. Though there's no actual proof, the local police suspect that former Catholic priest, Francis Jonah, is the person responsible for the child's disappearance. It isn't until five years later--after Mike has lost his wife and most everything he cares about--that a clue about Sarah suddenly appears on the same hill that she disappeared from. From that point on, Mike must turn to an old girlfriend for help, as well as the father he has hated for so many years. This will be a journey of revenge and awakening for Mike as he discovers that not everything, or everyone, is as it seems, especially those closest to him. REMEMBERING SARAH is the type of novel that grips you in the first few chapters, compelling the reader to move forward at a break-neck speed in an attempt to find the answers to this complex mystery. Chris Mooney is an author who knows how to skillfully hook the reader at the end of each chapter, making it impossible to put the book down. This is, in my opinion, what great writing is really about. The author also has a special gift for creating characters that the reader immediately identifies with and understands. This makes for a journey that's much more personal to the reader, because he/she truly cares about what happens to the main characters and is emotionally tied to the end results. Mr. Mooney has certainly shown with his third novel, that his talent knows no bounds and that he's capable of writing whatever he sets his mind to. REMEMBERING SARAH is the book that will finally put this author on the top ten bestseller lists. My only wish is that it won't be as long before his next novel comes out. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

This is one of the best books that I have read in a long time. It builds and builds the suspense until the very end. I am always reading mysterys, they are my favorite, but it has been a long time since one has captured my attention, like this book did.

I can't wait till his next book. If Chris Mooney continues writing like this, I will continue buying his books!

Chris Mooney has produced three books over the past few years, most recently the stunning Remembering Sarah. The plot, about a father's suffering when his young daughter goes missing, is familiar, but Mooney takes the execution of the story to a new level.

Not only has he created some vividly drawn, multidimensional characters and placed them in an intriguing story, he also succeeds in making the reader care about his creations. Our hearts ache for this devastated father, not just because of the drama of his plight, but also for his quiet desperation and persistence.

Mooney's work is dark and desperate, but filled with genuine human emotion, sympathetic characters and intriguing plots. Remembering Sarah is his best book yet and is sure to bring this gifted writer to a much larger audience -- exactly what he deserves.(...)

I'm an avid mystery reader and this book was one of the best I've read. I could not put the book down and was sad to have it end. The characters and story lines were fantastic.

Ask any parent. The one fear that keeps them up at night, counting benevolent coup on their sleeping offspring, is the thought of their child being abducted. I cannot think of anything worse. Think Mel Gibson in Ransom. Accordingly, one cannot casually pick up REMEMBERING SARAH, Chris Mooney's new novel about a young daughter who goes missing. This is a tale that will demand a block of time, all at once, from the novel's start to end, in one sitting.

Mooney's masterful narrative makes for effortless reading. His method of reader entrapment in REMEMBERING SARAH utilizes his ability to transform an everyday occurrence into an abject vehicle of terror. Men and women, ergo, mothers and fathers, are different. Mothers generally tend to be a bit more sheltering of their children; dads, in the main, take more chances, though not to a reckless extent. Accordingly, when Mike and Jess Sullivan have a difference of opinion as to whether Sarah, their six-year-old daughter and only child, should go sledding, this is something that every parent understands. Mike wants Sarah to be strong and independent, while Jess worries about the bigger children playing on the hill and possibly hurting Sarah.

What is great here, right out of the gate, is that Mooney makes the reader understand and sympathize with both parents. When Jess forbids --- forbids --- Sarah to go sledding, we understand where she's coming from. And when Mike packs Sarah up as soon as Jess leaves the house and takes her to the sledding hill, we understand that too. Mooney takes us to the hill, and you can feel the cold, hear the children and see them flying down the hill with great abandon. And when Sarah wants to walk up the hill with an older friend and without her dad ... we've been there, that point where you say yes, go ahead, and you watch your child take those first steps toward independence. We don't blame Mike when Sarah, without warning, disappears. And we don't blame Jess when she ultimately leaves him.

Five years pass. Mike is going through the motions of his life, functioning yet badly damaged, unable to let go of the loss of his daughter. The only suspect in Sarah's disappearance is Francis Jonah, a defrocked priest, now terminally ill, who is believed to be responsible for the disappearance of two other girls. Mike, forbidden by court order to even go near Jonah, finds his world turned upside down when on the anniversary of Sarah's disappearance her jacket is discovered by Jonah. Jonah has at best weeks to live, and Mike is certain that the knowledge of Sarah's fate will die with him.

But there are other considerations as well. Mike's father, from whom he has been estranged for many years, suddenly reappears, offering to help and inadvertently supplying a fateful clue as to what happened to Sarah. His reappearance, however, turns old scars into fresh wounds. Mike's mother herself disappeared when he was young, and he has always suspected that his father was responsible for her vanishing. Mike, before REMEMBERING SARAH is concluded, will find that everything he thought he knew was wrong.

Mooney is a fabulous storyteller. Virtually every character here is a memorable one, and I challenge all the gentlemen out there to read REMEMBERING SARAH without vicariously falling in love with Samantha Ellis --- and she's an attorney! That said, I have a spot of trouble with REMEMBERING SARAH. My problem is that I loved it, found it riveting, enthralling, scary, and all that good stuff up until the last 50 pages or so, when I thought that Mooney dropped the ball with an ending that didn't quite add up. In the interest of full disclosure, I was troubled on a personal level by his choice of villain, one who is considered fair game by segments of the populace.

Is my objection to the ending colored by my personal beliefs? Possibly. But what cannot be argued is that REMEMBERING SARAH is, for most of its three hundred-plus pages, simply impossible to put down. Ending aside, that makes it a winner.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub