Keep Her Close

By  

Erik Therme

Keep Her Close, a suspense crime novel, is about a family whose lives are turned upside down again when a horror from the past revisits.  The primary protagonist, Ally, who was abandoned at 3, takes us on a twisted adventure to find her father who has contacted her after 15 years.  Keep Her Close of Erik Therme’s fourth novel.

On their way into a midnight movie, Dan and Holly stumble upon an abandoned 3-year-old girl bearing a hand painted sign “FREE TO A GOOD HOME”.  Fifteen years later Ally receives a letter from a man claiming to be the father who abandoned her.  Dan, now Ally’s adoptive father, refuses to go with her to meet this man and expects that she will not go without him.   Dan is wrong, Ally goes missing, and the frantic search begins.

The book has a great premise and an interesting start.  It then moves into a fast almost frenetic pace where everyone is running somewhere.  I generally like fast paced books but this pace leaves room for little else.  Without story development and background, I almost feel too hurried to get drawn into the drama.

With a few exceptions the characters are too shallow.  I love Judy.  Her character unfolds with the story and I understand her motivation.  Under different circumstances she could have been a genius.  Dan is a well-developed character but he spends more time angry and looking for a fight than he does trying to find Ally.  But, why is Ally in such a hurry? Why does Ellie the roommate even make an appearance?  Holly the mother doesn’t seem to play a significant role either even though you would expect a mother with a missing daughter would be central.  There are many other “cameo” players.  As a final and probably least important note, every female in the book has a name that ends in an “e” sound (Holly, Ally, Ellie Judy, Maddie etc. etc.).  Diversity and variety are good things.

I give this book a 3 on 5 because it is at its heart a good story.  However, I would only recommend it to people who like a quick, fast paced read.  I want to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.