The Next Time You See Me by Holly Goddard Jones

Rating:  4 out of 5 stars.

Synopsis:
While life in a small, rural town is often thought of as quiet and a pleasant way to spend one's last years, it is very often buried in complexity as one moment or event can impact others. The town of Roma, Kentucky is no different in that regard. When an eighth grade girl stumbles upon a dark, terrifying secret, she becomes fascinated with the find enough to keep it hidden from the townspeople.

But those kinds of secrets have a way of coming to light no matter how hard people try to keep them buried. After a series of seemingly unrelated events draws the attention of the authorities to the body, a whole set of characters are touched by the secret. With their beliefs challenged, each of them soon realize that their lives will never be the same. They have choices that must be made. 

Review:
Having won this book in a Goodreads.com giveaway, I could not wait to crack the book open once I got my hands on it. I have to say that it is definitely an engaging book, full of twists and turns that lead the reader right up to a conclusion that I honestly didn't see happening until it actually happened. I very much enjoyed the way the author introduced the cast of characters in the book. There were quite a lot of them that played major roles at different points in the story and minor, almost supporting roles in other areas.

It was interesting to see something as simple as a missing person story bloom into a rather intricate and scarily accurate depiction of small town life in certain parts of the book. That alone made me want to turn to the next page in order to see what other secrets were going to come out in the wake of all the upheaval as neighbor began to turn on neighbor.

There were many central characters in the story. I believe the author did a wonderful job of giving each one their own unique voice and distinct character flaws. They ranged from eighth grade adolescents trying to find themselves to middle aged married couples with doubts to old-time factory workers looking back at their lost youth. I believe it's the convincing mixture of the characters as they wove in and out of the central story that makes this book a really good read.

The air of mystery is maintained throughout the book although we're given glimpses of what happened or what could have happened through the thoughts of a few key players. At the same time, we're shown how the weight of everything begins to drag down family members, causing cracks in an otherwise strong foundation.

By the end of the book, we know the answers that we had been pondering all the way through. The consequences of the actions for each of the characters are also shown to us. The ripple effect upon the town continues long after all the t's have been crossed and i's have been dotted. If you're looking for a really good down home kind of mystery, this is definitely the book for you!

The Next Time You See Me by Holly Goddard Jones is published by Touchstone Publishers and was released in February 2013. It's available everywhere in hardback, paperback, Kindle and audiobook forms wherever books are sold. The book can be purchased at Amazon.com at the link below.
The Next Time You See Me by Holly Goddard Jones