Salty Like Blood
Harry Kraus
Howard, Mar 2009, $13.99
ISBN: 1416577890

David and Joanne Connors accompanied by their seven year old daughter Rachel travel to Tippins, Virginia to visit his ailing father. However, during the visit Rachel vanishes. The local police investigate and with no evidence of foul play conclude the child most likely drowned in the nearby Chesapeake River; When David asked what happened to her corpse, the cops proclaim the river took the body out to sea. Joanne accepts the verdict of a tragic accident as she needs closure anyway she can get it; David rejects the ruling.

As David persists in his belief that his daughter lives, his marriage already weak even before the accident collapses. His medical practice also begins to fall apart as David obsesses on finding his child who he believes was abducted. He soon uncovers an identical case, which fuels his obsessive drive to rescue his child and punish her kidnapper.

This is an exciting thriller based on a parent's worse nightmare, the disappearance and probable death of their child. The parents are super characters as David changes from fun loving caring dad to an aloof person keeping his distance from everyone (even readers) with only his Somali neighbor Amina able to somewhat reach him; and Joanne hides her feelings of vulnerability with a cold armor of "realism". Although there are too many spins including a couple of cul de sacs, fans will appreciate this strong family drama especially David's final paranoid over the top theory (or is it as sometimes the paranoid are right) on what happened to Rachel.

Harriet Klausner