Emma in the Night

One of the books I've read outside of book club was Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker.  This was one of the books I got when I tried the Book of the Month club.  I'll admit the cover drew me in.  I'm a sucker for a good book cover.  I've even been known to re-purchase a book if it's released later with a cover I like better than the one I have.  Superficial, I know.

In my defense, the premise of the book sounded interesting too.  In this book two sisters disappear and, three years later, one returns.  When Cass returns without her sister, the titular Emma, she weaves a story of the events that transpired that is full of holes and leaves her family and investigators with more questions than answers. 

This is a book that I regret buying, pretty cover or no.  The ending is pretty obvious from the beginning, I didn't like the writing, and the whole plot would have been tied up easier if Cass had just told the truth from the beginning.  I get that then we wouldn't have the intrigue or the suspense but maybe this story would have been told better from the beginning rather than as a convoluted flashback.  I feel it would have been more interesting and it would have made more sense.  There was no reason for Cass to be evasive, which makes the ending more of a "Why?" than an epiphany.  You don't get to experience very much of this book with the characters, most of it is just told to the reader and I feel that this caused me to have a hard time being emotionally involved which is kind of the point of a suspense novel.  All in all I think you can skip this one, there's more substance in the cover art than there is in the book itself.