Thank you Walker Books for this book in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis:
What do you hope for when there is no hope? In search of this answer, award-winning Australian author Sue Whiting delivers a confronting mystery for younger readers.
Mackenzie da Luca’s mother is missing – she’s vanished without a trace in the jungles of Panama. Now, 116 days later Mackenzie and her dad are in those same jungles. Her dad is desperate to find out what’s happened to his wife. And Mackenzie is desperate to make sure he doesn’t…
Review:
Missing is the type of book that you block out your afternoon to read and finish it in one sitting.
Upon reading the synopsis, I knew it was going to be an amazing read, and you get hooked from the very first chapter.
Mackenzie is a 16 year old girl who was dragged from her bed in the middle of the night by her father in search of her mother, who at this stage has been missing for four months. While her dad is adamant between mental break downs that his wife and Mackenzie’s mother is still alive, Mackenzie has her doubts. This can be seen when she starts to recall the subtle good-byes her mother whispered before she left.
David, her father, has a mental break down when he starts to believe that his wife will no longer be found, leaving Mackenzie trying to piece together all the puzzle pieces of where her mum is and what happened to her. To be honest, her dad pissed me off. Yes I get it you are torn up about your missing wife but ummm HELLO you have a daughter that still needs your love and support, so pick yourself up off your damn arse and start looking after her. And though I should have been proud of Mackenzie handling herself life an adult in this situation, instead it drove me mad that she was out there searching by herself with no support from anyone. And to top it off, they are in a foreign country and Mackenzie is off exploring by herself.
Through this heart wrenching story, I did find myself irritated by the writing of it. From the first few chapters you notice that certain phrases or words being repeated three times and this continues throughout the book. Honestly to me, it made no impact on my opinion of the characters nor the plot, just made me disappointed in the writing.
Overall, the storyline and the characters were great but the writing and the repetition of sentence and words really let me down, like a sulking child.
Rating: 4/5
ISBN: 9781760650032
Publisher: Walker Books