Every Moment Since by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

A small Southern town. An ordinary Saturday night. A little boy disappears without a trace.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review

Every parent's worst nightmare is to have their child disappear.  This beautifully written novel dissects that experience for a family over a 20-year period.  Everyone in the small North Carolina town knows the name Davy Malcor.  He disappeared in a field in 1985 while playing with his brother and friends.  He wandered off from the group and vanished into thin air.  When his jacket is found 20 years after his disappearance in an old shed near where he was last seen, the cold case is opened again and the media descends on the small town and Davy's family.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

October 2024; Harper Muse; 978-1400345021
audio, ebook, print (384 pages); domestic thriller

This story is told in two timelines - the night that Davy disappeared and 20 years later when the cold case is re-opened.  Davy was 11 years old when he went with his brother Thaddeus to hang out in a local field after dark. Their parents were on their way to a party and agreed that they could go out for a short period of time.  When the older brother gets with his friends, he sends Davy away.  Davy is an embarrassment to him in his Marty McFly jacket that their mother made for him.  Davy goes wandering around with a new friend and then he's alone and then he's gone.  The police and the whole town searched for him but never found any clues.  Twenty years after he went missing, his distinctive jacket was found in an abandoned building near where he was last seen.  The police start a search in the area and the media who have followed the case for 20 years descend on the town.  So much has changed in the family that Davy disappeared from.  His parents are divorced but are still friends.  His brother has become a famous author for a memoir that he wrote about his lost brother. But did he tell the whole truth or is he holding back on some important information.

Four people's lives are traumatically affected by Davy's disappearance:

• His mother who is still advocating for missing children
• His brother who knows more about the disappearance than he has admitted
• Anissa who is the public affairs officer for the local police department never admitted that she was the last person to see Davy
• Gordon who was the main suspect in the disappearance has tried to get his life back and is under suspicion again after the jacket is found.  He too has secrets about the disappearance.

This beautifully written novel looks at not only the family and how the disappearance of a child affected them but also looks at the effect on the small community as they pick up the pieces that remain and try to find hope and healing.  

 

Buy Every Moment Since at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

 

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