Bring Her Home follows Bill, whose daughter Summer is found badly beaten in the park, and her best friend Haley is dead. I cannot say much more as it will give away the plot, but the story mostly follows figuring out what exactly happened to the girls and uncovering the secrets they hid. The story is slow, and not much happens. I felt like a lot of the story was spent at the hospital or Bill's house. Furthermore, I found the plot and culprit predictable and the twists not that impactful. As far as Bill, he is somewhat likable, but he makes rash decisions. I understand he is going through a lot with his wife dying a year and a half early and his daughter injured, but he has some serious anger issues. The book ends with an epilogue that wraps up the story well. However, the predictability and the unlikable qualities of Bill brought the book down.

Something very bad happened to Summer and Haley= and Bill's determined to find the villain. This is a fast paced and twisty one that's helped by the short chapters which made it easier to read just one more and then another. You'll feel Bill's desperation and the tension. And then there's the answer. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. No spoilers.

Writer David Bell invites us to witness every father's worst fears with this nail chewing thriller. Two years after his wife dies in an accident, Bill Price and his teen daughter, Summer, are battling to maintain their fractured lives. But when Summer and her closest friend go out, what begins as a normal weekend turns into a nightmare. Both girls disappear and Bill will stop at nothing to find out what happened. Along the way, he'll learn secrets that will make him doubt his ability as a parent, and force him confront what kind of husband he was to his wife.
Desperate to assist in the search, Bill barges into hospital rooms, schools and public parks. He's sometimes his own worst enemy as he ignores pleas from the police to let them investigate without his interference. At one point, his quick temper leads the police to put him on the list of suspects. But the reader is hard pressed to blame him as he staggers between grief and outrage.
David Bell throws plenty of roadblocks into Bill's path and like a crafty old pitcher, tosses a few curve balls that leave both our hero Bill and the reader swinging at air, and wondering what just happened. The surprises keep coming until the final shock. Read fast, because you'll be holding your breath for the last few chapters. Better yet, keep an oxygen tank handy.

David Bell was an author I had read before and loved. Somebody I Used to Know was a 5 star read for me. While I enjoyed the story in Bring Her Home it just didn't feel very original to me and I felt it was pretty predictable. The writing was good and it moved pretty quickly. In my opinion, there were too many characters and they just weren't quite developed fully. I will read David Bell again, this just wasn't for me.

Thanks for the chance to read this book. It was an absolutely fantastic thriller with so many believable twists and turns!

This book was archived before I was able to download it. I appreciate the opportunity to review though!

Just when it seems that everything is figured out, the author throws in a surprise twist that turns everything on end. The character of Bill is quite annoying and a bit caricatured overall, with his quick temper and belief that only he knows what is best. The mystery of what happened to Summer overshadows all of the shortcomings in this incredibly fast-paced and imaginative tale. This is definitely escapist summer reading at its best.
Teenager Summer and her best friend Haley disappear for an entire weekend, and when the girls are found, Haley is dead and Summer is beaten almost to death. Bill, Summer's father, has suffered his fair share of loss, with the accidental death of his wife just over a year before. As he holds vigil next to Summer's hospital bed, Bill seethes with fury that someone could have done this to his precious daughter. Some of Summer's mannerisms begin to make Bill suspect that something is not quite right — is this even Summer at all? What Bill discovers shocks him and everyone around him. What on earth happened to Summer and Haley, and how is it connected to the past?

I read this a while ago. I was an ok read for me. Hated the Dad character. Not something I would go out of my way to recommend.

I am a David Bell fan. With each book of his that I have read I have been kept captive by his words needing to read straight through to the end to solve the mystery. With Bring Her Home I solved the mystery before I reached the end but was still so hooked that I could not put the book down.

The format of short chapters helps make the pages fly by. I kept thinking 1 more chapter, just one more and then ending up reading for another hour. I just couldn’t help myself.

I like that this was a story about a single dad, a widow trying to figure out how to raise his teenage daughter. He struggled, he loved, and he did the best he could. I have teenage daughters and I know their dad loves them and would take care of them if something happen to me but there is so much that I do for them that he is clueless about that I feel like Bill is similar to my own husband. Bill won me over that he never gave up. He didn’t let the police keep him in the dark, he followed his gut and his heart to find out the truth about Summer’s disappearance.

Bring Her Home is a great thriller. There are twists, turns, and so many clues given. They mystery isn’t hard to solve but it is so fun to learn more about the reasons, the whys, and the who’s.

BOOK TAGS⇣

⤏ MULTI-LAYERED MYSTERY
⤏ THRILLS & SECRETS
⤏ TWISTY
⤏ SOMEWHAT ANNOYING MC

BOOK DETAILS⇣

AUDIO PERFORMED BY⇢ JON LINDSTROM
NARRATION RATING⇢ 5/5
BOOK COVER⇢ LIKE SECRETS IN THE WIND...
SETTING⇢ JAKESVILLE...I THINK
SOURCE⇢ LIBBY AUDIOBOOK (LIBRARY)
AUDIOBOOK LENGTH⇢ 11 HOURS, 56 MINUTES

MY THOUGHTS⇣

I originally tried to read an ARC of this a few years ago...and I found myself unable to get into it. I figured maybe someday once the Audiobook comes out that I could try again. It took me long enough, but I finally got around to it.

John Lindstrom was a competent narrator with a pleasant voice and I'm glad that I went with the Audio. It really helped with the main issue I had with this...I didn't care for the main character of Bill. He was exhaustingly repetitive and he tended to go off half-cocked and crazy. Thank goodness for his sister Paige, she was his much-needed voice of reason.

Despite that, the overall mystery of his daughter's disappearance was twisty and engaging and basically a parent's nightmare. My favorite kind of mystery has many layers, where each one is revealed as the story progresses towards the conclusion and this one delivered on that.


MY RATING⇢ 3¾✰STARS✰

BREAKDOWN⇣
Plot⇢ 4/5
Characters⇢ 3/5
The Feels⇢ 3.7/5
Pacing⇢ 4/5
Addictiveness⇢ 4/5
Theme or Tone⇢ 3.7/5
Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 4/5
Twisty-ness⇢ 4.3/5
Originality⇢ 3.5/5
Ending⇢ 4/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Books for this free readers edition. In exchange I am providing an honest review.

Bell's books intrigue me. The premise is always one that catches my attention, several of his titles are on my TBR list, but as far as actual execution of the story he's batting 50% for me.

Bill's daughter, Summer, is missing. His wife died a couple of years ago and his daughter is now missing. He is desperate to find Summer. And then the call comes, a girl has been found severely beaten and almost dead. Bill rushes to the hospital. At least Summer is alive. Standing vigil at her bedside Bill's mind churns with all the questions he has about how Summer got to where she is and why. Through police questioning and little secrets being revealed Bill discovers Summer isn't the kid he thought she was. She had a lot going on behind the scenes that he was completely oblivious too. It's making him question everything and everyone he can think of. When a mistake uncovers the identity of two other girls in connection with Summer's disappearance and then reappearance Bill is undone. He is frantic to get answers, side stepping the police investigation to conduct his own. If only Summer would just wake up, then they would get some answers.

This title fell flat for me and I think there were two main reasons.

One, the main character Bill. I was, as a parent myself, so annoyed with him. Any thinking adult knows that investigations take time and resources. I abhor that line used on screen or in print that is along the lines of the person yelling at the Detective to get to work finding the missing person instead of talking with them about it. Uh hello. Any thinking adult, nay person older than about 14, knows that it isn't just one person looking for a missing person and updates need to happen and questions for answers are part of the process. It's just so annoying to me. Also, Bill's completely inappropriate interactions with the teenagers in this story grated on my nerves. Again, as a parent - even a parent distressed over their child - you know you don't hunt teenagers down and try to get them to talk. It's stupid and unrealistic. I understand Bell was trying to show the lengths Bill would go to for his daughter but it annoyed me rather than endeared me.

Secondly, the story didn't move for me like it should have. Given the timeline of the events I feel like I would have, as the reader, felt the urgency as well and the story would have presented itself at that pace. Instead I felt like the story was dragging and very few parts were descriptive of the urgency. Also, it was very clear - to me - very early on what the answers were to some of the questions hovering because of Summer's disappearance and reappearance. It was not hard to put the pieces together of who was involved and for potential reasons why. Bell tried to build suspense but it didn't work for me, I was already halfway to the conclusion before he revealed what was probably supposed to be, and was for some, a shocking fact. I was actually just glad when it finally came to light because I was sure that meant the story was wrapping up. I was only partially correct...on the story finally ending that is. It still went on for much longer than I thought it should have.

All in all I felt "meh" during this entire read which is always a disappointing way to feel about a story you are looking forward to. Am I giving up on David Bell? I'm not. I'm not moving any more of his titles to the top of my TBR but I'm also going to read them when they come my way. He's got great ideas, I'm looking for the one that he executes to live up to those plot descriptions.

This was another good thriller by David Bell. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I always think I know what is going on, and then there’s a plot twist to send me for a wild ride.

I loved this book! Every time you think you have the story all figured out, boom, a new twist! I was very pleased to read it and happily surprised by how good it is.

The story is captivating and well-written. If you are looking for a thriller to read, Bring Her Home won't disappoint.

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A super intense drama that kept me entertained throughout. This was my first time reading this author and I loved it.

A must read! Actually anything David Bell writes falls into that category. A true page turner! A perfect read!

This book gripped from the start and never let go. 2 girls going on a summer adventure that completely changes their lives. A fathers love so strong he could not give up on his daughter he had to find her which lead him down an unexpected path he never saw coming. I'd you like a thriller that keeps engaged a book you can't put down this is the book for you

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.
The plot was pretty interesting and drew me in even though the middle part dragged and the main character was overly dramatic and repetitive. I read this back to back with the most recent David Bell and maybe I was just losing patience with the author.

Though I liked the book, I made the decision at the time I finished not to review it on my site. Maybe in the future I will include it in a book list post or another article.

I found this to be a decent mystery / thriller. There were a couple of twists that I didn't see coming. I was engaged enough with the story that I wanted to know what happened, but I did find that it felt a bit long. I think part of that was that I was often frustrated by the main character. I found him pretty unlikable. I understand that he is in a terrible situation and it involves his daughter. I'm sure I'd be a crazy person too if I thought my daughter was missing or severely injured or dead. However, he was just annoying at times. He consistently made assumptions about people and jumped to conclusions and made bad decisions. As much as I wanted to relate to him, I just couldn't. Maybe because of this, I found some of the other characters felt just a bit off to me too. It distracted from the story for me.

Overall, I thought the story was interesting. As I stated, it had some surprising twists, but also some not so surprising twists. I found the ending lacked substance. You were left with the question of, "Why would that person do that?" and there was no answer. I like my conclusions to make a bit more sense. I like my "bad guys" to have a reason for doing what they're doing, unless they're completely insane and it's just that type of story, which this wasn't. Though, I did like the idea behind the ending and think it had the potential to be good. I just think it needed to be more thought out so that the reason behind it made more sense. Wish I could explain that better without giving anything away.

This was the first book I've read by David Bell. I enjoyed the story well enough and would be interested in reading more work by this author.