{Book Review} A Child Is Missing by Karen Beaudin

This is not my usual book review as it is unsolicited. My past few reviews have been for BookSneeze, but this one is on my own! I hope you'll read this book!


Book Description
As I walked into the house, the scene I beheld was like something out of a movie. Every eye turned toward me, but no one spoke a word. 'What's wrong?' As tears ran down my sister's face, she said, with a voice filled with sobs, 'Kathy's dead; she's been murdered.' It was a cold November night in 1971 when thirteen-year-old Kathy Lynn Gloddy went missing, only to have her beaten, bruised body found the next day on the cold ground. Enter into the tragedy as Karen Beaudin vividly recounts the horrifying revelation of her younger sister's death in A Child Is Missing--the shocking true story of a small New Hampshire town stunned by the revelation of such a brutal crime, and a family devastated by the loss of a beloved daughter and sister. As Karen and her family search for justice, their faith will be tested in the battle against the guilt, fear, and devastating grief that comes when they realize every family's worst nightmare: A Child Is Missing.

Author's website: http://www.karenbeaudin.com/

A Tate Publishing book trailer for A Child Is Missing by Karen Beaudin.

My Review

I went to college with the author's oldest daughter. We had many of the same friends even before I met her. I met Joscelyn when we sang in the same traveling choir after she transfer in from another school. After I graduated I didn't hear from her until Facebook, but I have lots of fond memories of my friend Joscelyn from our choir tour adventures and also a trip to Chicago with 3 other friends to watch Phantom of the Opera. While this book was not  written about Josc, it is a record of a piece of her family history that directly impacted her mom in a severe way.

A Child Is Missing tells a first-hand account of a family who were the victims of a horrible crime: a daughter, a sister, murdered. It's hard for me to imagine losing one of my siblings, let alone losing one because of a murder. Even typing the word murder in the same sentence as siblings is hard. As I read Karen's account of losing her sister to murder, a brother to a heart condition, her father to cancer, and her mother who took her own life, I tried putting myself in her shoes and I don't know that I would come out the other side as strong she did. However, Karen's life is a testimony of God's faithfulness in her daily life and I believe that God can and will show himself to be just as faithful to me and you.

Through Karen you get a very real idea of what people go through when crime cases go unsolved. The hopes are very high and the and disappointments are very low. There is often a struggle to move on with your life and lay to rest your loved one. You relive the sadness not only out of guilt and trying not forget your loved one, but also from trying to remember any detail that might help the case. 

Karen's writing a sequel to this book to recount what happened when the case was reopened in 2004. She hopes to find new leads to solving her sister's murder.

Recommendation: Excellent Read