Book Review: Half Moon Bay

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This book review is about the novel “Half Moon Bay” by Alice LePlante.

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Book Summary:

Jane loses everything when her teenage daughter is killed in a tragic accident.

Devastated, she decides to move to the small seaside town of Half Moon Bay, hoping to start over.

So she leaves San Francisco, where there are so many terrible memories.

Jane is heartbroken, and she misses her daughter so badly it feels like a physical manifestation. But as the months go by, she is able to get a job. She makes a few friends, and she begins to hope for peace at some point.

Can she begin a new life without her child growing up beside her? Can she get past the grief one day to somehow find happiness again?

And then, children in Half Moon Bay begin to disappear. Soon, Jane sees her own pain reflected in all the parents in the town. There is fear and dread all around her.

Jane can hardly believe that the grief of losing a child is happening to other people in the town. What are the odds?

As the disappearances continue, her neighbors wonder whether Jane has something to do with the kidnappings of the children.

Some think that she has somehow unleashed the horror of the disappearances simply by moving to their town. As though the loss of a child is a contagious disease.

How could it be a coincidence that she lost her own daughter, moved to their town, and then their own children began to disappear?

They wonder if, due to her tragic loss, she might be unstable enough to have taken these little girls.

Then she strikes up a friendship with a new mysterious couple in town. This friendship is what keeps her going. But, unbeknownst to Jane, this friendship could have deadly consequences.

My Review:

This book kind of confused me. It seemed like the plot was all over the place.

In some ways, the book made sense, but overall, it was somewhat implausible. I’m not a fan of occurrences that don’t seem possible. Even in fictional books.

About The Author:

Alice LaPlante is an award-winning writer, editor, and teacher of writing, both fiction and nonfiction.

A Wallace Stegner Fellow and Jones Lecturer at Stanford University, Alice taught creative writing at both Stanford and in San Francisco State’s MFA program for more than 20 years.

A NY Times bestselling author, Alice has published four novels and five non-fiction books, as well as edited best-selling books for many other writers of fiction and nonfiction.

Alice lives with her family in Mallorca, Spain.