(4 1/2 Stars)
Excerpted from Editorial Review
Full Review at
Web Fiction Guide
I can honestly say I read this online novel
non-stop for hours and I was not forcing myself to do so. So the story did succeed in grabbing and fascinating me, and the
interesting question is why?
This is the story of a detective's efforts to find a missing college student. It wasn't so hard to
guess who the kidnapper probably was, although some red herrings were thrown out. The mystery I kept reading to find out,
was how the detective would figure it out. There really were no clues whatsoever. That he even kept on the case, is a manifestation
of Calvin Coolidge's quote "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence".
I enjoyed the descriptions of the various
eccentric characters Carter interviews in the course of his investigation. I went along with the flow of a deputy's life in
small town Missouri. Many of the incidents that are related do not in fact turn out to be relevant to the case that is at
the centre of the plot, although you do not know this at the time. The story is sprawling, yes. In part this makes it more
realistic, as you don't know what is a Chekhov's gun and what is just a slice of life or a unrelated mini-mystery off to the
side. On the other hand, some of the details will be of more interest to readers who have read one or more of Simmon's other
novels about Richard Carter and his family. Even though I have, I'd forgotten details, and, for example, references to Shane
and the canoe rental business came out of the blue for me. But the gist of it is that Deputy Richard Carter has a lot of past
that he's still dealing with.
The
sections from the point of view of Charlie, the kidnapped college student, are eerie and put me in mind of recent news events
such as Ariel Castro's crimes. Imprisoned without direct knowledge of her kidnapper and his intentions for her, she alternates
between terror and determination. Since this is a mystery, I don't want to give away spoilers, so I will try to be very oblique
in what I say next, but if you are worried stop reading now . . . . . . . . . .
. Still with me? There is a way she could have turned out to be more of an agent in solving her own mystery, and partly I
wish it had turned out that way, but the randomness of the manner in which the turning point is reached may actually reflect
reality more . . . . in any case like Amanda Berry she turns out to be far from a passive victim.
Does "Call Her Sabine" add anything new to the detective-mystery-suspense
genre? Not especially, except perhaps in the setting and characters. Long story short, I liked it, [short passage omitted] you
will have to decide for yourselves.
!!