Book Review: The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos

Genre: YA Contemporary
Publication: January 2016 by Balzer & Bray
Acquisition: received a free ARC at ALA Midwinter 2016

Synopsis:

All Imogene Scott knows of her mother is the bedtime story her father told her as a child. It’s the story of how her parents met: he, a forensic pathologist, she, a mysterious woman who came to identify a body. A woman who left Imogene and her father when Imogene was a baby, a woman who was always possessed by a powerful loneliness, a woman who many referred to as “troubled waters.”

Now Imogene is seventeen, and her father, a famous author of medical mysteries, has struck out in the middle of the night and hasn’t come back. Neither Imogene’s stepmother nor the police know where he could’ve gone, but Imogene is convinced he’s looking for her mother. And she decides it’s up to her to put to use the skills she’s gleaned from a lifetime of reading her father’s books to track down a woman she’s only known in stories in order to find him and, perhaps, the answer to the question she’s carried with her for her entire life.

(from Goodreads)

3 / 5 Stars

Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with this one. I was thinking there would be more mystery (judging a book by it's title, me = guilty).

And there was mystery, just not really what I was expecting. Nothing was very mysterious. It was more of a contemporary coming of age tale then a thriller.

I was expecting secrets and maybe some unexplained happenings. What I got was family drama and predictable actions.

But again, my expectations were off.

I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the read. The writing, the characters, the emotion - it was very well done. Imogene was hard to like but I did admire her determination.

If contemporary isn't your natural go-to read, I would say skip this one.

If your a fan of contemporary YA then I would say give it a go.

The plot wasn't for me but I do think others would enjoy it and I wouldn't hesitate to try another book by Rebecca.