Book Review: Where They Found Her

The body of a newborn baby found in the woods near a university campus seems like the beginning of a book full of mystery, and it was. But, in Where They Found Her, Kimberly McCreight took too long to develop that mystery, leaving the reader bogged down and pushing through the text until about mid-book.

Molly Sanderson, a reporter for the local newspaper, is charged with covering the mystery of the baby’s death, which, as you would imagine, is the talk of the college town of Ridgedale. Molly, whose husband is a professor at the college, usually covers entertainment for the newspaper and is pretty far out of her element in covering crime. Molly also is dealing with her own personal issues, having moved to Ridgedale after the death of her own baby and the depression that followed.

The police chief, the creepy university security officer, the professor, the reporter, the dean of students, a society wife, a crazy friend, a local has been, a poor girl, a blessed girl, a traumatized youth, a questionable teen, a suspicious newspaper editor, and a foreign maid are just some of the characters in this book. Perhaps that’s the problem. The reader gets so bogged down in everyone and their backstories that it’s difficult to sludge through to the action. But, when those stories all start to come together, the book is a page-turner. The question is whether you can make it that far.

I loved McCreight’s book, Reconstructing Amelia. I was not as impressed with Where They Found Her. Although I was glad I finished the book because all of the best parts happened in the second half.