I received this book "Bring Her Home" from Netgalley for my honest review.

Summer and her friend Hailey go out for a walk and they don't come back. Two days later one girl is dead and one girl has been beaten badly enough that you really can't tell who it is. This book has twists and turns and kept me guessing. You think you know what is going to happen next but then... it takes a turn in a different direction. I liked the style of the book and will check out other books by this author, David Bell.

I loved this book from beginning to end, would have never guessed the outcome had you until the last page. Thank you Net galley for letting me read this great book.!!

This book is very good! The story is good, the characters are strong. I give it 5 stars and a strong recommendation.

Bring Her Home

A novel by David Bell

Shiva must be smiling, Bill Price’s world has been destroyed twice over. Eighteen months ago his wife died from a fall in his kitchen. Today his daughter, Summer, has been found, after being missing for two days, severely beaten in a local park. Unconscious. with her head and hands completely covered in bandages, but alive. That is infinitely better than her friend Haley, who was lying dead beside her in the park. Strangely though, in the course of ’round the clock hospital vigils, questions emerge. The girl on the bed shrinks away from the familiar; her father, a much-loved stuffed Winnie the Pooh bear. Is the comatose body that of Summer? Who assaulted this girl and murdered Haley? Why are those boys hanging around? With each question answered others arise, and a confused and angry Bill Price is driven further afield to find answers.

“Bring Her Home,” has more twists and turns than a Kentucky back road, but in the main is not much of a mystery. If you don’t know who did it, and why, after reading the first ten chapters you are not sufficiently suspicious. It moves along quite fast and has some interesting twists to it. But the main character, Bill Price, comes off as unsympathetic despite his woes; he is a bit of a jerk. The writing is okay but is a bit preachy on the subject of religion and child abuse.

Note to author: Avoid topics like religion, politics and child raising. People read books like this “mystery” for pleasure, not for indoctrination in Politically Correct attitudes.

"Bring Her Home" is one of those books that don’t deserve a recommendation or condemnation. I rate it at 2.5 stars. Read it if you can't find better.

I received an advance galley of “Bring Her Home” from Berkley, Penguin Random House, and NetGalley in exchange for this review. Who do you think got the better deal?

Although a bit predictable, was still a good read that I'm glad I got to enjoy!

Bring Her Home is the latest suspenseful story from David Bell. It really should come with a warning, only read when you have a block of time to stay with it! Bring Her Home is a page turner with twists and surprises. I was given an early copy to review.

This book just doesn't suit my personal reading preferences. I find it overlay dramatic in many areas and not realitistic as to true life. It's well written, an excellent storyline and interesting characters - but it just doesn't feel real to me or believable in how the characters interact with each other or act.

Gets you from page one,couldn't put it down characters are well developed and the plot moves along nicely

Great novel by a favourite author. Full of suspense and many twists and turns, I couldn't put this fast paced book down.

There were many twists and turns in this story and the majority were welcomed and enjoyable to read. As for Summer and her friends predicament in the hospital...I've seen it before.

Wow! This was a great read. I couldn't put it down. I've neglected housework and laundry to read this book. The twist and turns. Just when you thought you had it all figured out, Wham, a new twist. I've never read any other books by this author but I will definitely look up another one to read. Looking forward to reading his next book. I highly recommend!!!

A very interesting novel. Enough twists to make it a good read. Bill is a little bit of a dork but a good father.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. At first, I was totally invested in this story. Very compelling and a great topic for a thriller. What I didn't get was Bill. Is he supposed to be likeable? I only got a half view of him. By the end I was dying to know what happened. How did these girls managed to disappear? It is a good, quick read, but with some flaws in my personal opinion.

This chilling and thrilling page turner kept me captivated and teetering on the edge of my seat from start to finish!! This was my introduction to Mr. Bell's work, and I have to say it made one heck of a first impression, I will definitely be back for more in the very near future!!

Highly recommend you get your hands on this book, Mr. Bell's twists and turns will have you holding on for dear life, and take you one thrilling literary ride!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this title.

There was much I liked about this book and it kept my interest to the end. I particularly liked the twists, which I didn't anticipate. However, it seemed to me that the pacing was a bit off in some parts. There were sections where the same concepts were repeated over and over, so much that I had to check that the sentence that seemed so familiar to me had in fact appeared in almost the same words just a page or so before. On the other hand, it seemed to me that there were also great leaps at times, where it seemed to me that a character was coming to a conclusion based on scant information. All in all, though, an interesting read.

I love a great mystery. Three dimensional characters who I either identify with or who are so well-fleshed out that even if I don’t, I find them compelling and am invested in their outcome. I envy an intricate plot with a hint of foreshadowing (not too much because the surprise is the payoff) but just enough that I think, “Oh, why didn’t I see that coming?” I pride myself on solving these things early. Unfortunately, David Bell’s Bring Her Home is none of these things.

And I hate to be this negative, but reading this felt like an enormous waste of time. I requested this book from Netgalley in large part because I’ve seen David Bell’s name pop up often on Goodreads. His blurbs are compelling. His covers are eye-catching. His credentials are enviable, but I have to wonder how someone with so much education, someone working at the MFA level in English, can have gone so far off-track. Sentence structure, character, dialogue, and plot are all in need of some heavy redlining.

Let’s start with the set-up: two girls go missing, one of which is dead. The other is in ICU having barely survived a brutal beating. Enter her father, Bill, a man who by all rights should be thanking God it isn’t his daughter residing in the morgue, but who can’t seem to feel blessed about anything. He reacts to almost every situation with anger, at one point punching a glass window (injuring his hand) in front of a police officer (or security guard?) who doesn’t bat an eye at his attempted destruction of private property. I don’t like this character nor do I feel his plight. His reactions are disingenuine, and for lack of a better thing to call him, Bill is obsessed with pinning his daughter’s injuries on any and everyone, starting with a few fellow male classmates. Still, it isn’t his least redeeming quality in this troubled, formulaic plot.

Let me explain:

We’re dealing with a touch-and-go (life-and-death) medical situation and what could (should) be an emotionally impactful scenario. After all, Bill did only lose his wife a year ago. His daughter is all he has left, yet, I can’t help feeling Bill doesn’t deserve her. Early on the author gives away the first twist.

*spoiler alert.*

The girls are said to be twin-like, similar in hair coloring and build. They even wear each other’s clothes. From the outset I suspected the girl in the bed isn’t Bill’s daughter. Why Bill doesn’t know this is beyond me. I’m a parent of a young adult. I could find at least one childhood scar to pin his identity on in the event that he was otherwise unrecognizable. Even Bill’s sister recognizes that this isn’t who they think it is. She’s actually the one to pose the theory that the survivor is not Summer, but her friend Haley.

Bill is an emotional void.

Unfortunately for David Bell, I have a healthy amount of medical experience, to which I can say if you’re not savvy with the details, leave it to the pros or seek out the right information. The chest tube scene was iffy. The doctor wouldn’t have sterilized with alcohol. There’s undue attention given to a procedure the author doesn’t fully understand (or hasn’t seen from a clinical perspective). Later when “Summer” is transferred from ICU to rehab (unlikely since in a hospital there’s typically a step down from ICU to a regular hospital room and rehab as a final phase of recovery) in an unresponsive state! I’m sure I grunted. If this girl was beaten nearly to death, no hospital in its right mind is going to move her to rehab. Sometime later, when Summer’s mother’s death is discussed, the author claims an autopsy wasn’t performed because her death was so obviously an accident. I can’t believe for a second a healthy, middle age woman died in her home and an autopsy wouldn’t be done (regardless of how obvious cause of death might be). An investigation would have been done to confirm accident versus foul play.

While I’m discussing writing and things that bugged me, David Bell (maybe unintentionally) casts homosexuals in an unflattering light, talking about the location from where Summer and Haley disappeared as if it being a known gay pickup site makes it a foregone conclusion it’s also the kind of place where one might be murdered. Is the author homophobic? I don’t know, but it sure seems like it. This factors in later when *spoiler alert* the broken jaw incident is explained. To each their own, but this feels prejudicial and like an author intrusion rather than an integral part of the story.

The plot unfolds without a single surprise and *spoiler alert* Adam as a villain seemed likely. The convenience of his leaving a note and key in the event something happens to him is laughable, but that aside, the investigation (prior to his death) continues on an obvious trajectory toward an unsatisfying conclusion. A bunch of characters surface in the second half of this book as to serve as red herrings. At one point it’s almost plausible that Summer might’ve been involved in something shady, but that point is fleeting and never quite pulls me off –track as the reader. A shame, really, as I had high hopes. Despite the author’s backlist, credentials, and awards, doesn’t measure up to other bestsellers I’ve recently acquired. My reading of David Bell begins and ends with Bring Her Home. I thank the author and publisher, however, for offering me this advance copy through Netgalley.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for allowing me the opportunity to read this e-book in exchange for an honest review. Newly widowed Bill Press receives the news that his missing daughter Summer and her friend Haley have been found. Summer is badly beaten and clinging to life. Her friend Haley is dead. The book continues with some surprises that does keep it interesting. Although a good story I found it to be slow with pages and pages of descriptions and theories of what happened. This is my second book by David Bell and I had similar comments about the length in my previous read.

I had to work really, really hard to finish this book. (Thank god it's hockey playoffs or I never, ever would have finished it.) This is not the kind of book I usually read, mostly because I find them so boring and poorly written. However, if you like James Patterson, or David Baldacci, you will probably like this book.

A father is called to the hospital and told that his missing daughter has been found barely alive. He becomes determined to hunt down her attackers, especially since his wife died several years earlier. If he loses his daughter he will have nothing left, which I guess is why he acts like a lunatic throughout the whole book. There were so many twists and turns that it became amusing after awhile, but since they didn't pack any punch (and many of them didn't even make sense) I can barely remember what order they came in. I've already forgotten the names of the main characters and I only finished reading this a day ago.

This was given to me by the publisher because I have liked books like I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. Sorry, but I HATED this book, almost from the first sentence.

I had never heard of this author before, but when I read what the book was about I had to check it out. Two girls go missing, and then are found in the woods, one dead and the other beaten beyond recognition. From there it goes into a wild roller coaster ride that will leave you sitting on the edge of your seat. I highly recommend this book, as well as the author. I know that I plan to check out the other books he has written!

David Bell's latest novel of psychological suspense kept me intrigued, though I did figure out a few of the plot twists early on. The author does a good job in his exploration of characters pushed to the brink in very traumatic situations. The dialogue is believable and flows well and the novel is well paced to keep the reader turning the pages. The main character did behave in ways that had me scratching me head at times, but since I've not been in the same situation, I cannot truly say I wouldn't do the same. A satisfying conclusion wraps up the novel, with some very strained relationships restored. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to my readers of this genre.