Mystery/Thriller -- 5 stars
A little girl disappears in the forest during a hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. Three years later, her family refuses to give up hope and hires Naomi, who has a reputation as a child finder, to look for her. The story unfolds in two voices--Naomi's and little Madison Culver's The language is hauntingly beautiful, almost mystic. "A sky like an upside-down gold pan raining sleet that left stars in her hair." It is an unusual style for a mystery/thriller that works best in Naomi's voice. When it comes from a five-year-old--"She could feel her veins filling with nutrients as she ate, as if she were of the trees outside, drinking in the milk of the melted snow."--it is distracting, but only at first. In the end, the language, both Naomi's and Madison's, seems to melt around you. Putting the book down at the end felt like getting out from under a cozy quilt on a cold morning.
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