Red Leaves

Librarything-o-meter thinks I 'will love' this book... and it isn't wrong! I bought this on a whim and from the first page absolutely couldn't put it down. I'm not a fast reader, so it's a good job I'm on holiday at the moment, because I read until I finished it.

An eight-year-old girl goes missing sometime during the night that her neighbour's teenage son was on babysitting duty. After the initial shock and immediate defence of his son, Eric Moore begins to question whether he is in fact innocent at all. He is 'odd', a loner with self-esteem issues and seems to have trouble telling the truth. As Eric's world unravels it seems that no family members are what they seem and his suspicions grow about everyone around him.

I thought I had the show more ending sussed fairly early on, but I was only partly right and wasn't prepared for the way the story played out. The book is gripping and everytime I tried to put it down, it magically appeared in my hands again. On the surface it's an excellent mystery/thriller, at a deeper level it's a brilliant exploration of relationships, of the many faces we all choose to show others at various times and of the consequences of suspicion that begins 'with a subtle itch', but quickly becomes a 'raging affliction'. Wondefully written and an excellent read. show less

Red Leaves by Thomas H. Cook is a beautifully written, haunting story about a devastating event that changes the life of more than one family. A little girl goes missing while under the care of a sixteen year old boy, and many believe that this boy is the one to be held accountable. Unfortunately even his parents have their suspicions.

The on-going police investigation and the anguish of both families is explored but there was something very familiar about this story that actually had me checking to see whether I had already read the book. I hadn’t but I think the plot line was similar to some other books that I had previously read.

Red Leaves examines a horrendous crime and as the pages turn we can see the pressures that both families show more feel. All is finally revealed in the final chapter but the destruction of these families brought about by accusations, suspicions and lack of communication is firmly in place by then. An interesting, somewhat bleak story. show less

In this tense novel, a father describes what happens to his family after his teenage son falls under suspicion of kidnapping a little girl he babysits. Once started, it is hard to put the book down: up to the end it is unclear whether the child will live or die, whether the father will have faith in his son, and whether the family will survive the ordeal, although it's obvious from the way the story is told that all does not end well.

My main problem with the story is how the boy's parents react to the little girl's disappearance. The morning after the son babysits, they receive a hysterical call from the girl's father. After reassuring the girl's father that they have no information, the family simply goes on with its routine of jobs show more and school. They don't go over to the girl's home, they don't offer to help in the search, they don't get an attorney, and they don't even seem all that curious as to what's happened - until the police start showing up. While I was glued to the action, I couldn't get this unlikely reaction out of my mind. show less

En vanlig stabil familj i en liten småstad, en dag försvinner en liten flicka och deras tonårs son är den sista som har haft kontakt med henne. Boken beskriver krisen de genomgår när de helt plötsligt inte vet vad de ska tro och misstanken börjar gro om att deras son kan vara den skyldiga. Familjen känns väldigt trovärdig, hela historien känns mycket äkta men tyvärr så lämnar boken inga vidare spår efter sig när man har lagt den ifrån sig. :

"Red Leaves" by Thomas H. Cook may be the first ever true mystery that I have read. I can't tell you exactly what I was thinking, or what appealed to me when I pick up this book. I generally don't read myseteries and even though I have read other male authors before, it is rare that they appeal to me.
That being said, I cannot say that I enjoyed this book. This book made me very uncomfortable. Mr. Cook told a story of a family torn apart by suspician and the loss of a neighbors child. "Red Leaves" forces you to think about what happens when little girls are kidnapped. I was kept awake at night thinking about what it would be like if it was my daughter. I hated that fact. No mother wants to think such thoughts.
However, because of the show more fact that this book made me uncomfortable and made me think disturbing thoughts, I must say that Thomas H. Cook did what every author strives to do: he made me sit up and notice, think and ponder, worry and get angry. It is for these facts that I would say "Red Leaves" is a successful book, even if not a good book. show less

Stand-alone mystery, my first read (or listen) by this author. A small-town family is torn apart when a young girl disappears from her home, and the teenage son of the man telling the story is suspected in some foul play in the matter. During the course of these events, several other issues plaguing the man and his family—even his distant family, relating to his father’s previous business dealings and his mother’s death, his brother’s alcoholism, etc. are brought to light. While I loved the author’s way with words and the way he was able to depict raw emotion and flay the protagonist’s soul open to inspection, I can’t say I think much of his plotting, as he seemed to broadcast every plot twist long in advance and by show more mid-book I had a gut feeling for exactly how it would end, and I was right, which disappointed me very much. I don’t want to give anything away, so I won’t say more. Excellent writing (and reading) aside, ultimately the book was just plain depressing and not much of a thriller or a mystery. There were also too many issues that were never firmly wrapped up, but left to the reader’s imagination to decide what had ‘really’ happened—which I don’t mind occasionally because my imagination is generally up to the task—but in this case, there were just TOO many things left that way…it felt as thought the author just couldn’t be bothered to wrap things up, or something. show less

A young girl disappears and the sullen, loner 17-year old boy who had been babysitting her prior in the evening becomes the main suspect. The story is told from the point of view of the teenager’s father, who suddenly suspects he knows little about the members of his own family. This story was great but I had to reduce a star because of the intense foreshadowing that was as subtle as a sledgehammer. I must give extra praise for the cover of the hardcover edition, which is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.