Great story. As a crime mystery it was interesting to see the entire story unfold from Bill's point of view. He started out completely unlikeable and seemed to meddle in every aspect of the crime, almost to the point of it being cringeworthy. It was very satisfying to see him actually be right when nobody would listen to him.

While I found a few bits a pieces of Bring Her Home to be predictable, I definitely enjoyed the novel. The suspense of everything that happens around Bill's daughter makes me feel incredibly sorry for him. I'm happy he got the ending he did!

Bill Price's life has been in turmoil ever since his wife died. His 15-year-old daughter Summer is also suffering the loss of her mother. One day Summer and her best friend Haley disappear. Not too long after they disappear, the girls are found, one of them Haley is dead and Summer is badly beaten. 

As would any parent be , Bill is livid, how can someone do such a horrific thing. He sits vigil by his daughter's bedside, along with his sister. There are so many questions, how did the girls happen to be taken, who did it and why? As days go by though, things don't seem to be as simple as they look. Many questions are asked by the police that that Bill has no answers for.

As time goes by, things get even more difficult. Through memories of Bill's, we learn more about his wife and her death and some problems he has had with Summer. Things are not as they seem and Bill is determined to find out what happened to the girls. Some of the answers he is not prepared for and not what he had thought.

This book is a great psychological thriller and will keep the reader turning the pages. There were times I was a bit frustrated with Bill, but as a parent, I could not understand what he was going through, having never been in that situation, but I did have empathy and as the book progressed, a lot of things were a bit easier to understand. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it!

It's summer and I'm craving dark and chilling reads! I mean, I crave those year round, but something about summer time in particular makes me want them even more. And David Bell has become a name that's synonymous with chilling thrillers.

Summer and her best friend Hayley were on their way to Hayley's house when they both disappeared. Two days later, the girls have been found, but only one of them has survived. Both girls have been beaten to the point that they aren't readily identifiable based on looks alone. But Summer was wearing her jacket and carrying her ID, which means her dad Bill has the relief of knowing his daughter is still alive. Unfortunately she isn't out of the woods as she's been unconscious and unable to tell authorities what happened to them since being found. And Bill is going mad sitting on the sidelines. How can he protect his daughter when he can't even be sure what or where the danger is?

Bell's latest, like all of his others, is an intense and quick read. Even at over 400 pages, it just begged to be read in one sitting. I, of course, complied.

From the start, I really enjoyed all the questions set up by the plot. First and foremost concerning Bill himself and whether or not he can be trusted. He's not very likable. But you have to give him the benefit of the doubt considering his situation. And yet, there's a niggling feeling that he's hiding something or maybe just not being quite straightforward.

Then there's the question of the girls and what they were up to. Where were they going? It turns out Summer and her father have a strained relationship, thanks in no small part to the fact that Summer's mother died a little over a year and a half prior to when the story takes place. As both are dealing with their grief, they find solace and tension equally together. And Summer's disappearance coincides almost exactly with her mother's birthday, an anniversary that Bill knows was hanging heavy over them both.

The book has twists galore, and more than a few of them are easily predicted. But in spite of that, Bring Her Home was still a perfect afternoon escape!

I LOVED this book! I raced through and couldn't wait to find out how it all ended!

This is one of those scenarios where the cover deceived me. This was definitely not the highly enjoyable read I was anticipating.

The premise was interesting enough: father finds badly beaten daughter and wants to find out what happened to her. Perfectly reasonable, perfectly intriguing. But then, the story actually begins and I stopped caring almost immediately. And the major reason is Bill. He is an absolutely terrible character. I don't even know where to start by describing him. His thought process makes no sense, as he flits from one thing to another in his pursuit for the "truth"... and he was absolutely terrible at it. He stays dogged about one thing and really never shifts from that perspective until the very end. I don't like his impulsive and violent nature; it seemed almost comical because of how ridiculously it was portrayed. He was also constantly repeating everything that everyone says, to the point where I got super annoyed. The "clues" just happened to fall in his lap; everyone was just SO eager to confess and tell him their dirty little secrets. It was all just such a mess. I really thought that this novel would hit it home for me but in the end, it just didn't work for me in any way whatsoever. Only 1.5/5 stars from me!

I really liked this book and want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the free advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The book started out as a well written thiller but when you reached about 30% into it, you were hit with an "oh my gosh" twist that changes this book into a fast paced, original & suspenseful thiller.
Every time that I thought that I had things figured out, I was hit with another crazy twist.
I would definitely read another book by this author.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of these types of mysteries. I read this book quite quickly because I really wanted to know what happened. There were lots of twists and turns which I thought would annoy me, to be perfectly honest, but they were done so well that it really just added to the story more.

There were things happening on the side as well that I found very interesting and wanted to know what happened instead of just skimming through it to get to the main parts.

The only complaint I have really is how often it is described how people touch each other, like on the arm, where on the arm and how hard. I understand it was necessary when someone was grabbing someone but it honestly felt kind if out of place.

Bring Her Home is a good mystery. Unfortunately, this one didn’t keep me at the edge of my seat or wanting more. It felt a little long and dragged. This is the first time I’ve read a book by David Bell. I found Bring Her Home to be good, but it could be better. It’s why I’m giving it a rating of 3 stars, maybe even a 3.5
The story starts off great. Bill Price, a recent widower, is the father to a teenage girl, Summer. Summer and her friend, Haley, have been missing for some time now. The girls have been pretty much inseparable since grade school. Summer is the more outgoing one, the leader. Haley is known to be more of the follower. They went out one night and never returned home. Bill gets a call, Summer is in the hospital, alive. Bill has no idea what shape she’s in, or how bad her injuries are.  At first, Bill’s character is easy to relate to. You can sympathize with how he feels, how he reacts, and his confusion. He sees his daughter, in the hospital, beaten to a pulp. Summer can hardly be recognized. As the story went on, I started to grow tired of Bill’s character. I feel, the story revolved too much around him and him being the father figure. Bill always seemed to be on an edge. He was excessively defiant, which often interfered with the police investigation. He was almost always angry and used poor judgment. He was also quick to come up with his own conclusions. Throughout the story, he seems to jump around a lot.  
Some of Bill’s actions were just too dramatic for me. I couldn’t see a grieving parent doing some of the things he did. I also wish some of the other characters were a bit more developed. Bill gets most of the attention. If there would have been more focus on some of the other characters, Summer, Adam, and Summer’s friends, I might have enjoyed it a bit more. The Police investigation didn’t take away from the story, but it also didn’t add to the story. It was pretty monotonous. I guess I expected more to be revealed on the investigation end and less on Bill’s end. Bill might as well be the detective in charge. 
I would say this is a good read, a bit long, but you can get through it. There was something about the book which kept me reading. I think it was mostly the plot and wanting to know what happened to the girls, who was it that hurt/killed them.

As a parent the worst possible situation you can imagine would be an injured child.  This story grabbed me from the first page when Bill shows up at the hospital to find his daughter who has been missing with her friend for more than 48 hours.  
As her progress is slow and the investigation seems even slower, Bill starts to learn things about his daughter that he wishes he never had to hear.  Since his wife's passing a couple of years prior, he and Summer had a strained relationship and he begins to wonder how much he's been missing in his daughter's life.  
During his search for answers he learns more about many people in his life than he ever thought possible and his desperate search for the truth leads him places he never thought he would have to venture.

Thank you Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for giving me an advanced copy!

For the most part this plot was fast-paced and engaging!! I have always found missing person cases to be interesting. Who? Where? Why? All fun and frightening at the same time.

Though this book hides behind the fast-paced plot, there was certainly some things wrong with it. One being the cops. David Bell made cops look like idiots in this book and even though there is protocol with any law enforcement case they were just ridiculous. Lastly, was some of the dialogue in general. I found myself several times questioning: would people really say this in this high stress situation?

If you are looking for an engaging thriller then I recommend this, just know it's not perfect.

Bill Price is a recent widower whose teenage daughter Summer, along with her best friend Haley, has been missing for a few days. Now, an early morning phone call tells him to get to the hospital: they've found the girls.

I thought the author did a great job in the very beginning with Bill's portrayal. He seemed to be a great mix of upset, angry and confused, but glad his daughter was alive. He was sort of awkward in what he said or expected, but it worked. As things continued,  did have problems with Bill. He is a very angry person, which I suppose could be largely attributed to his grief (but not entirely as we're shown in some scenes from prior to his wife's death). He also seems to decide things (like what happened to Summer or who did it or why) without much or any basis or evidence. His fervent belief in these things, his overzealous actions and proclamations were just too dramatic.

I think that if there had been more focus on some of the other characters, or they had been more fully developed, I could have liked it more. There were just too many problems with Bill's character, the central one, for it to work for me.

There were small details, that while not really harming the story were distracting for being illogical or not following what had already happened. (Two non-spoilery ones: Bill notices Summer, while in the ICU, is not wearing her bracelet and wonders if whoever took her stole it. Only there's no way the hospital would have left that on her. There was no autopsy when his wife died because it was clearly an accident - except a healthy, young woman dying, alone from an accident seems like it would still require one.)

The language of Bring Her Home could get repetitive (phrases, specific words, even a story from Bill and Paige's childhood) and the twists were almost entirely predictable (the first may have been because I previously read a book, based on something true, where the same thing happened), but something did keep me reading this book. As much as Bill and his actions did not work for me, I did really wan to find out how it all ended. Bring Her Home was definitely dramatic but also very intense and that intensity keeps you pulled in, wanting to know the final whodunit (and why). Give Bring Her Home a try, Bill's character might work well for you.

NB: I checked points of issue against a finished copy and only factored those not changed into my review (some absolutely were removed/fixed).

2.5/5

There is a whole lot going on in this book. Two girls are found in the park both badly beaten and almost unrecognizable.  One is barely alive.  Who could have done this? There are a few suspects but none of them seem to be panning out and Bill is frantic for answers.  With a bad temper Bill starts lashing out at everyone, his daughters friends, his neighbor, his sister.  Someone in this small town knows something they just need to find one thread to help them start to unravel the mystery.

There are many twists and turns some you see coming others not so much.  I had a few issues with this book.  There were several major plot lines like the big reveal before Part 2 that I felt jumped the shark.  I felt like I was watching a bad made for TV movie.  I also had a difficult time with Bill.  He was too volatile.  For a character that was as broken as he was in the beginning of this book he flew off in too many directions that seemed out of character.  This is a man who was still deep in mourning for his wife who had died a year ago and now he gets the call every parent dreads that his daughter is in the hospital.  His life just goes downhill from there and I just had a hard time wrapping my head around his actions coming from this same broken character.  Sitting in his daughters room half comatose would seem more in line with the man who hadn't bothered to move any of his wife's clothing, kept her cell phone turned on and charged and replayed her voicemails on the computer all the time, not running around town threatening people. 

I really wanted to like this book.  The synopsis made me eager to read it, the cover is beautiful but there were parts of the story that just fell flat for me, that left me wanting. I kept waiting for it to get better and there were times that it did but I think that the main character just ruined it for me.  I had a hard time liking him or feeling connected to him in any way.  

I've heard Bell's other books were spectacular.  I'm bummed this wasn't one of them.

Plot was full of many twists and turns. Enjoyed reading it

I thoroughly enjoyed this suspense novel!!!!  Being a parent I could relate to this father never giving up on finding the truth about his daughters disappearance.   Dead or alive he needed closure.

Extremely suspenseful. I couldn't wait to find out if Summer was Bill's daughter or not! I look forward to reading more of this author!

I really enjoyed this book! The twists & turns kept me reading till the end; searching for the answer to the questions of...Who done it? Where is Summer? 
There were times I thought it could have been shortened (ex. Bill accusing everyone he knows, meets, or sees-- whether based on fact or rumor) but it all comes together nicely at the end.

I love David Bell's books. I know when I pick one up to read that I am assured of a great read. That assurance certainly was true, yet again, with this book.

The plot twists involved while Bill Price is searching for his daughter, Summer, are jaw dropping. The suspect list is long and seeing Bill literally beat his way to finding his daughter is heart breaking. Especially so soon after losing his wife.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and my inability to put it down proved that fact. A read that will have you turning the pages without noticing the time, that I loved!

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

Summer and her best friend Haley have disappeared.  Now, a year and a half after the death of Summer’s Mom, Bill, learns that his daughter Summer is in the hospital in the Intensive Care Unit and Haley is dead!  No one yet knows what happened; all that is known is that both girls were found badly beaten.  On his arrival at the hospital, Bill is angry about all the unknowns and wants to go speak to the guys the girls used to hang around.  Haley’s parents arrive to comfort him, remarkable to say the least since their loss is a million times worse than his.  
A few weeks later, the unbelievable happens!  It turns out that the girls used to switch clothes all the time and it’s really Summer who has been killed and Haley who is alive!  It’s beyond one’s imagination and one can barely understand Bill’s shock and grief.  Add to that another girl is missing!  Then there’s a question about whether it was Summer who was dead!  Crazy-making revelations!
This then is the story of a mystery left to unfold!  By now we know that Bill has a definite anger management problem and that he has been questioned about his own relationship with Summer and her Mom.  But that’s minor compared to the facts about to be revealed.  The solution lies with a very friendly neighbor and a bunch of guys trying to up the ante on their competitive reputation as womanizers, that is, tallying the number of girls they’ve slept with.  Silly and childish, right?  But what happens when some go too far?
Bring Her Home is a mystery, a crime thriller!  It also, however, is a satire on those who live daily lives without really paying attention to what spouses and children are doing on a day-to-day basis.  It’s a call to awareness as a few hours can make all the difference between life and death!
Stunning novel that, although somewhat contrived, is a spine-tingling, hair-raising read!

Bring Her Home
by David Bell 3.5 Stars
This is a good summer mystery, while I enjoyed it, I found it very predictable. For me, I have to feel something for the characters and I didn’t like any of them. This story is about a parent's worst nightmare, a missing teen. I imagine that each of us would react differently to this situation. This is the second book I have read by Mr. Bell, and look forward to others. I would highly recommend the book.