Fragile by Lisa Unger



About the book: Everybody knows everybody in The Hollows, a quaint, charming town outside of New York City. It’s a place where neighbors keep an eye on one another’s kids, where people say hello in the grocery store, and where high school cliques and antics are never quite forgotten. As a child, Maggie found living under the microscope of small-town life stifling. But as a wife and mother, she has happily returned to The Hollows’s insular embrace. As a psychologist, her knowledge of family histories provides powerful insights into her patients’ lives. So when the girlfriend of her teenage son, Rick, disappears, Maggie’s intuitive gift proves useful to the case—and also dangerous. 

Eerie parallels soon emerge between Charlene’s disappearance and the abduction of another local girl that shook the community years ago when Maggie was a teenager. The investigation has her husband, Jones, the lead detective on the case, acting strangely.  Rick, already a brooding teenager, becomes even more withdrawn.  In a town where the past is always present, nobody is above suspicion, not even a son in the eyes of his father.  

“I know how a moment can spiral out of control,” Jones says to a shocked Maggie as he searches Rick’s room for incriminating evidence. “How the consequences of one careless action can cost you everything.”

As she tries to reassure him that Rick embodies his father in all of the important ways, Maggie realizes this might be exactly what Jones fears most. Determined to uncover the truth, Maggie pursues her own leads into Charlene’s disappearance and exposes a long-buried town secret—one that could destroy everything she holds dear. This thrilling novel about one community’s intricate yet fragile bonds will leave readers asking, How well do I know the people I love? and How far would I go to protect them?

My Thoughts: Fragile brings to readers a story where a young girl goes missing for a 24 – 28 hour period. During this time, the past seems to be coming back to haunt a few of the people in the small town of Hollows.

The story begins with the town’s “hero” detective dumping something. Throughout the story when the young girl, Charlene, is abducted, we find out that over 20 years ago another young girl, Sarah was abducted and found dead 24 hours later. The Hollows is a small town, and Charlene’s abduction has cropped up memories for everyone, especially Melody, Charlene’s mom, Travis Crosby and Jones Cooper. Why would those three people seem affected more than anyone else, well because they somehow played a part in Sarah’s abduction and death years ago.

The inter-weaving story line between the present and the past was spectacularly written. There were no gaps and there was never a time where I felt like I missed something. The characters were very well developed. The author took their actions and personalities from the present and was able to show the audience, how and why they may have become the person they are now.

This is my first time reading this author and I must say I think I will have to add more of her books on my TBR list.

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DISCLAIMER: I was in no way compensated to review this book. These are my opinions of a book given to me by Booksparks PR. These opinions are my own without any influences.