Book Review: Half Moon Bay

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

Book Summary:

Jane loses everything when her teenage daughter is killed in a senseless accident. Devastated, she manages to make one tiny stab at a new life when she decides to move to the small seaside town of Half Moon Bay. So she picks up her life and leaves San Francisco, where there are so many terrible memories.

Jane is inconsolable, and yet, as the months go by, she is able to cobble together some version of a job, of friends, of the possibility of peace.

And then, children begin to disappear. And soon, Jane sees her own pain reflected in all the parents in the town. She wonders if she will be able to live through the aching loss, the fear all around her.

And as the disappearances continue, she begins to see that her neighbors are wondering whether it is due to Jane herself. Some think that she has somehow unleashed the horror of these new losses by moving to their town. Those around her, including the police, wonder whether Jane is involved in these disappearances.

They wonder if, due to her tragic loss and some of the things she has resorted to doing in her time of grief, 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 is keeping her going, but it 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 books.

About The Author:

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

Alice has published three novels and five non-fiction books, and has also edited best-selling books by many other writers of fiction and non-fiction.

Alice lives with her family in Mallorca, Spain.