Having enjoyed Alice LaPlante's "Turn of Mind" a few years ago, I was looking forward to the advance readers copy of "Half Moon Bay" Unfortunately, this novel did not work nearly as well for me. I found the characters underdeveloped and disingenuous, the plot disjointed and not the thriller it was purported to be, and the ending rushed, unsupported by the prior narrative. Cannot recommend.

This was not a very enjoyable read. Jane, the main character is a miserable person who meets and falls for shady Edward and Alma. So predictable.

Half Moon Bay is a creepy bizarre book. The main character, Jane, is strange. She's been odd her entire life, making bad decisions, and just exists. In a span of a year she lost her family and moves to a coastal community where girls begin disappearing. She takes up with another strange couple and begins a ménage a trois. The only character I liked in this unappealing book is Adam, the well educated surfer guy who ends up saving the day. I did not care for this book at all.

Wow, just WOW! This book had me on my toes and will now forever have me on my toes.
Jane loses her teenage daughter in an accident and seems to be reeling afterwards. She decides to try and start over in a small seaside town. To Jane's dismay, children start to disappear. Things start to unfold shortly after this. Each page offers a new discovery with an ending that I did not see coming

I enjoyed this book but also found it to be a bit of a depressing story. I had figured out the ending but felt like it was a bit abrupt; it just seemed like it could or should have been a bit more fleshed out.

I would totally recommend this book however, because the mystery at the center of the story and the main character's issues were interesting and well written.

Half Moon Bay by Alice LaPlante

Scribner, 272 pages, $26

Alice LaPlante is the author of the unusual mystery, “Turn of Mind,” featuring a woman with dementia who was trying to solve a puzzle. LaPlante's description was convincing, mesmerizing and horrifying. “Half Moon Bay” is mesmerizing and horrifying as well, although the main character, Jane O’Malley, does not have dementia. Instead, the burden she must bear is the death of her teenaged daughter a year before the narrative of “Half Moon Bay” begins.

Jane has also lost her husband, although we eventually discover he is alive. He has merely moved out of her life. She has had a difficult time dealing with the loss of her family whose presence was a great comfort to her. As LaPlante moves her story along, we realize Jane had begun to lose her family long before her daughter died. Eventually, it was easier to run away from San Francisco, the place where she lived with her family, the place where her daughter was killed, the place where dark thoughts consumed her, than to face her grief.

Half Moon Bay is more than just a scenic California tourist mecca on the coast; it’s a viable small community. Because of her knowledge of native plants, Jane gets a job at a local plant nursery. Although Jane is not sociable — her inner looping monologue is much richer than anything she engages in with her co-workers or the town’s people — she manages to keep a low profile and become a head-nodding acquaintance of some of the other residents.

All may not be well with Jane, but she is at least maintaining an acceptable facade during the day. At night when her insomnia hits, she wanders the lonely cliffs and beaches. It is on one such occasion that she runs into the police. A child has been kidnapped, and her body is later found, murdered. Jane appears on the authorities’ short list of suspects after a couple more young girls go missing. Laplante reveals the hidden, mournful circumstances of Jane’s past that damn her in the FBI's eyes.

The story develops a “Fifty Shades of Grey” feel when Jane meets the enigmatic and attractive Edward and his beautiful wife Alma, newcomers to the area. Despite the cloud of suspicion that follows her, maybe her time in exile is looking up. Also, there’s the cheerful and helpful Adam at the nursery. He’s a totally rad surfer dude who appears to be into her. Suddenly, she is smiling and looking forward to what comes next, instead of dreading days that remind her of her lost family. Things would be so much better if only she could lift that cloud.

LaPlante creates an atmospheric psychological drama with gothic traces of fog, menacing or beguiling voices, explosions, and stealthy footsteps. She hammers in each new revelation about Jane like nails in her character's coffin. At the same time, LaPlante creates great sympathy for the lost and grieving mother.

LaPlante's latest novel is filled with engaging characters and an interesting twist on the standard murder plot line. She evokes the Bay Area coastal communities with a lot of verite and verve. And the ending will literally leave you feeling you have been punched in the gut. I highly recommend this book. If you live in the Bay Area, you may never cross over to the beach again without thinking about this novel.

I’ve read Alice LaPlante’s previous novels, and thoroughly enjoyed them, this one not so much. Although I think the idea was that the reader was to sympathize with the main character, I found myself not really liking her. Also, I felt that enough wasn’t said about what exactly happened to her daughter, maybe the author didn’t feel that was necessary, but maybe I would have understood Jane’s behavior and choices better. Not a bad story, but I can’t call it great either.

A woman’s only child is accidentally killed and shortly thereafter her husband leaves her. She falls apart and, in an effort to become anonymous she leaves home and moves to Half Moon Bay to reinvent herself. Shortly after she arrives there little girls start to disappear and their remains are found days later. She, because she is new and because she is strange, is suspected of these murders and is befriended by a couple whom she describes as beautiful. This leads to more complications and her life becomes untenable. I will not go further into the plot because of spoilers but considered it to be well done. I did, however, have difficulty dealing with the fact that the entire novel was written in third person which I thought put a distance between the reader and the protagonists. Thanks to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster for an ARC for an honest review.

I enjoyed the tension, atmosphere, and mood of this deep, dark novel. Alice LaPlante writes beautifully, and I found her character Jane to be believable and interesting. Much of the story holds the reader's interest. However, there were a few plot disconnects and contradictions that interrupted the flow.

Jane O’Malley has suffered a life altering loss. She loses her daughter in an accident. Trying to cope, she picks up and moves to a new town where she has no memories to remind her of all she has lost. This is a pretty tired storyline, which I have read a couple of times this year. However, this novel has a twist or two, as less than a year after moving to Half Moon Bay, little girls start to disappear. Everyone around her thinks Jane has something to do with it.
Well, to be honest....I really didn't care. I couldn't connect to any of the characters and did not care about them one way or the other.
I really did try to like the book, honestly. A story must resonate with characters who jump off the page and make you live with them. Thankfully, this two dimensional characters stayed in the pages. I couldn't wait for the story to be over, and not in the manner typical of a thriller.

As I say to all readers, not every book will resonate with every reader. That is why there are simply millions of books. This one wasn't for me.

Thank you #netgalley and #scribnerbooks for generously providing me with a copy of #HalfMoonBay in exchange for an honest review.

This book has an extremely slow pace... The writing is a bit jagged and not very cohesive. It is marketed as a psychological thriller but I was never very engaged with the story.

Wow... so I'm not going to sugar coat anything in this review. This was just awful. I don't like giving negative reviews but this was not a well written novel AT ALL.

The only thing I liked about this book was the cover. It's gorgeous! Unfortunately, I just could not get into Half Moon Bay by Alice LaPlante.

The two main issues I had with this book was the writing style and the main character Jane. I felt for Jane... how awful to lose your child. BUT, I didn't like her character at all. The author wrote based on Jane's consciousness or in and out... I think? This was very confusing for me and I felt it was all over the place. I should have put this in the DNF pile... but I wanted to see if the ending had the bang for the buck. WELL.. that will teach me.... ugh :(. The ending came out of nowhere and it didn't even make sense to the story?

1 star.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and Scribner for the arc.
Publication date: 7/10/18
Published to GR: 4/22/18

No one writes psychological novels like LaPlante. Once again, she has created characters the reader instantly cares about...and embeds their lives with time bombs just waiting to go off.

Jane’s life changed forever when her daughter was killed in a car accident. She moves from San Francisco to Half Moon Bay to try and start over.
She gets a job and friends. But when children start disappearing her neighbors start to wonder if she has something to do with the disappearances.

a gripping psychological thriller of a woman in desperate grief when her daughter is killed. Suspense at its finest.

Thank you @netgalley and @scribnerbooks for generously providing me with a copy of #HalfMoonBay by #AliceLaPlante.
Jane O’Malley has suffered a life altering loss. She loses her daughter in an accident. Trying to cope, she picks up and moves to a new town where she has no memories to assail her. Less than a year after moving to Half Moon Bay, little girls start to disappear. As the residents of the town become aware of Jane’s history, they start to think she is the culprit. Are they right?
I didn’t really like this book. I did not connect to any of the characters and did not care about them one way or the other. Well, actually, Jane drove me crazy. At one point in the book, she’s like oh, I lost my child, why should I care about these other kids that are being harmed? Um, excuse me. I know she suffered a loss, but that is just one of the things that made her unlikable to me. Also, her vague answers got on my nerves. Like lady, it’s no wonder the police think you are a psycho killer. I really kept reading because I wanted to know if my hunch was correct. Oh! And after all the buildup the ending was so abrupt! I felt like I wasted my time.

Never had a chance to read this. Perhaps will read it at a later time from the library

It hurts me to give a bad review, but I did promise to be candid. I truly hope that the author takes this constructively and not personally. I really hate to hurt anyone.

Hmmmm... Something good: I finished this book. It was readable. But not at all realistic or believable. Most of the characters were unlikeable including the woman who lost her daughter. You sympathize with the horrible tragedy, but most readers don't want to be immersed in it. At least not like this.
The main premise, which disturbed me was that every mother begins losing their children the moment they are born. It almost implys that it would be better to not have children. As a mother of two now 20 year olds....I completely disagree. And yes, they were each horrible in their own way during their teens. Still, having kids was the most amazing thing that I have ever done in my life. Sooooo......this book annoyed me to no end. It really makes you wonder why the main character ever had a child.
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When the killer is finally revealed----it was obvious.....and the book ended two seconds later.

No, I would not recommend this book to anyone.