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(cross posted from )
There is terror all around us, and Adam Nevill never lets us forget it. I was more than excited to receive an ARC of his newest book, Lost Girl, from the publisher but it was nothing like I expected it to be. If you’ve ever read any of Nevill’s other work, you’re going to be very surprised with this particular novel, because it’s very different than anything he’s ever written.

While the father is in his house on the Internet, his daughter is taken from him. One minute she was playing in the garden and then next she is gone. Every parent has nightmares about this scenario and Nevill has pulled right from our night terrors and put our thoughts into print. The police search for a time but are unable to find any leads. Does anyone except for the father and his wife care? It doesn’t seem like anyone is willing to do anything. He needs to know where his daughter has gone. The responsibility of his little girl’s life weighs on him heavily and drives him to hunt for her.

With the help of his mysteriously anonymous contacts (one of which the father names Scarlett Johansson) he is playing a game with his life. Each lead he uncovers brings him down a path, closer and closer to uncovering a secret. The shady characters of a child selling crime syndicate are brought to light and justice under his watch. Gangs control the world. Sickness and plague accompany drought and everyone in the world is desperate to exist. Nothing could ever prepare the father for the truth that exists at the end of this story though. Sometimes there is more darkness in people then we realize. Our past can resurface when we least expect it to, and when we’re face to face with someone that we once trusted, all we’re able to find are the holes that they left inside ourselves.

We never learn the father’s name or where he came from. Only that his love for his child and her well being are constantly his focus as he transforms himself from the father to Red Father. During his evolution, he becomes like the people he is hunting. He feels the blackness entering his soul and his determination to save his little girl is the only thing that keeps his mind straight. The the very real possibility that we could one day be in a place where we are forced to make the same decisions is horrific. The picture of the future that Nevill paints completely blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction.

In the other Nevill books that I’ve read, the horror is contained in a specific place. With Lost Girl, the entire world is the horror. Desperate people become evil when disease and cures come into play. They turn to the powerful, who happen to be involved in gangs and crime syndicates. One of the most terrifying possibilities that this book presents us with is that this could very well be our future. It is most certainly a possiblity that we could end up in the shoes of Red Father.

But when we search our souls, would we go as far as he is willing to, surrounding ourselves with depression, death and pain?

Does the father become who he was destined to be and uncover more mystery than he bargained for?

Invest your time in reading Lost Girl to find out. The unique story will make you cringe and force you to think about the people that you once surrounded yourself with.