The Child Finder

TW: pedophilia, child abuse

I'm not sure where to start with this one. I enjoyed the mystery, which was really the only thing that kept me reading (skimming) through this one. But as other reviewers have pointed out, Madison (the 5-, later 8-year-old) was depicting as bizarrely mature for her age, whereas the 30-year-old adult Naomi often seemed more like a child instead. I'm not sure whether this was intentional or not, but it didn't do the story any good.

There was also the repetitive prose, and the stinted dialogue. Somehow everyone in this story spoke like Data from Star Trek (i.e never using contractions). The side characters all blended into one, and I found myself cringing more than once at how obvious it was the author wanted every moment to be “deep”.

I was also disturbed by the way the author shows Madison responding to her abuse. I understand her wanting to please her captor to prevent punishment, and a part of her that craved human contact. But I found some of the word choice disturbing and questionable. Saying (from Madison's perspective, again - an 8 year old child) that they reached the “pinnacles of heaven” at night, while her abuser raped her was just ridiculous and grotesque.