I
love a good mystery, and that’s what drew me in and want to read, Bringing
Maggie Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author so I didn’t know what to
expect.
The
story starts out in 1943, when young Hazel is watching her 3- year-old sister
Maggie. She only turned her back for a
few seconds, but that’s all it took and little Maggie was gone. What happened? Would they ever know? Hazel and her family were devastated by the
loss. Its impact would ripple down and
impact future generations. Fast forward
to present day, Hazel’s granddaughter Meghan is coming for a visit only to be
surprised and find her mom Diane there too.
When the long-held secret comes out about Maggie, Meghan has hope, that
as a cold case investigator, she may be able to finally bring some closure for
her grandmother that she loves so dearly.
Bringing Maggie Home turned out to be a little different than I
anticipated. It focused mostly on the
people and their relationships. Through
this story, you can see how one horrible event can impact people far beyond the
initial tragedy. There were times, I
felt like the story dragged a bit, because I was wanting to get on to solving
the mystery. When in fact that’s
secondary to understanding people.
I
struggled with the character, Diane. She
was just downright unpleasant and I wanted to slap her. She was rude and I didn’t like her. But as the story went along I came to
understand her more. I really liked the characters
Hazel and Meghan and their loving and caring relationship. Another likeable character was Sean. I liked how he lived out his Christian faith.
I greatly appreciate it when the Gospel
message is woven in to a book by a Christian author.
For
those of you who love solving mysteries, don’t worry, you’ll get to the bottom
of what happened to Maggie in due time.
That part of the book was interesting too. I wish it had been a bigger part of the
story.
But
all in all, I recommend Bringing Maggie Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer. There were times reading it was painful because
of the bitterness, hurt and anger the characters were dealing with. But it caused me to reflect on my own life and
relationships. I went through a range of
emotions as I read this book. I found it
hopeful in that characters grew and changed overtime and you saw the Lord at
work in their lives.
I
love finding an author whose work is new to me.
Not only did I get to enjoy Kim
Vogel Sawyer’s newest book Bringing Maggie Home, but now I can
go back and read her earlier books.
I
would like to thank Blogging for Books and
WaterBrook Publishers for the opportunity to read Bringing Maggie Home for
free. I was under no obligation to give
a favorable review.
