Review: Emma in the Night

Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This starts as a standard mystery - two sisters disappear and years later, one returns. The detectives and forensic psychologist who responded to the original crime resume their investigation. However, a few things tipped me off early that this was no formulaic beach read. First off, the psychologist has an unusual background herself. Second, seeds are planted early in the story that the sister who returns may not be a completely reliable narrator. Also, their mother is completely nuts. As the authorities (and me, as the reader) try to figure out what really happened, increasingly more psychological dysfunction is revealed. I was able to forgive some of the less-than-perfect character development, and some of the basic techniques used for developing doubt and leaving clues, because the plotting and story was just that good.

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