I'll Find You

by Clair M. Poulson

Book by Poulson, Clair M.

Genres: Lds Fiction, Mystery, Lds, Suspense, Romance, Fiction, Thriller

390 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2001

About the author

Clair M. Poulson was born and raised in Duchesne, Utah. His father was a rancher and farmer, his mother a librarian. Clair has always been an avid reader, having found his love for books as a very young boy.

He has served for forty years in the criminal justice system. Twenty years were spent in law enforcement, ending his police career with eight years as the Duchesne County Sheriff. For the past twenty years Clair has worked as a justice court judge for Duchesne County. Clair is also a veteran of the US Army where he was a military policeman. He has served on various boards and councils during his professional career, including the Justice Court Board of Judges, Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Utah Judicial Council, Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, an FBI advisory board and others.

In addition to his criminal justice work, Clair has farmed and ranched all of his life. He has raised many kinds of animals, but his greatest interest is horses.

Clair has served in many capacities in the LDS church, including fulltime missionary (California Mission) bishop, counselor to bishop, young men president, high councilor, stake mission president, scoutmaster, High Priest group leader, etc. He currently serves as a Sunday School teacher.

Clair is married to Ruth, and together, they have five children, all of whom are married: Alan (Vicena) Poulson, Kelly Ann (Wade) Hatch, Amanda (Ben) Semadeni, Wade (Brooke) Poulson, and Mary (Tyler) Hicken. Between them they have twenty-three children. Clair and Ruth met while both were students at Snow College and were married in the Manti temple.

Clair has always loved telling his children, and later his grandchildren, make-up stories. His vast experience in life and his love of literature has always contributed to both his telling stories to children and his writing of adventure and suspense novels.

Reviews

[Chevelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is one of my favorites!!!!!! I just finished reading this one a couple of days ago! It took me 3 days to read it! It is a really amazing book that i couldn't put down. My friend was reading it and i was going to a hair apointment so i borrowed it because i didn't have anything to do for those three hours... I couldn't put it down since!!!!!! if i was you, i would read it right away. Its about a lds girl who was playing with her friend when she was five, and he got kidnapped. She later is doing the accounting for a jail and thinks that she sees him... Want to find out the rest??? Read it today!!!!!!!

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the whole plot was very clever...and all and all a great book!
I didn't like jerry's boy friend.
I thought he was a jerk...but other than that it was good.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

LDS fiction. The plot was very preditable, the romance(s) were expected, and the ending was over-the-top happy. And yet I have to admit that I rather enjoyed reading this one.

[Jennifer Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It is definitely an LDS read. Others LDS authors I have read only hint at some LDS topics this has a lot of prayer, testimony, gospel and more to it. It was definitely not written by an English major making it an easy read, but intriguingly entertaining none the less! It is fairly predictable if you read a lot of suspense but you can't help but want to read it anyway. He has a fun sense of humor to his writing that I enjoy, and can't help but want to be defensive against some characters and rooting for others!

[Apzmarshl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read, good plot, clean. I like to read Poulson because he is a former cop but as a writer he is a bit of a cheese. I know people get offended by that.
Plot....two young friends playing, one gets kidnapped, the other can't let go that they saw their friend kidnapped and she spends her life trying to find him.......or thinking about him. Not top literature but a good clean read. As usual I am thrown off by the names of the characters..........I have name issues.

[Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I realized the author was a male when after the protagonist finds the kidnapped little boy she does not even think of notifying his mother for several days.
Completely unbelievable plotline, the protagonist is horrible in leading one man along forever while in love with someone else. She had no redeeming characteristics.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love his books. They are so good. There's action and a love story in one. His books are tasteful and captivating.

I do find it odd that I just bought this book and another one from the library book sale at the city's summer event and both were about kidnaps.

[Amy Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love I'll find you, By Clair Poulson, It is great that I can find clean books about so many different things, I never thought i would find a good book about suspense.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good story. Not because of the writing style or because he's an exceptional author, but just because of the plot. Especially if ya'll like LDS (chick-flickY) novels.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first book of Claire's that I read and I loved it. It made me want to read all of his others!

[Dixie Bowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good western book with a modern twist. Good clean romance also. You ladies would like it I think.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun quick read. There are a few parts that were a little annoying or cheesey, but overall I enjoyed reading this book.

[Emmalynn Herbstritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how Jeri yells at Rusty that she will find him when he is kidnapped. That shows how deep her friendship was with him at the time. I think that it was pretty cool how Jeri went to California and ran into Randy Moore aka. Rusty Egan at a prison. From the very beginning, I hated Chub. It was touching that at the end, when Jeri was taken from Rusty, how he was scared for her life and would do anything to save her, even if that meant dying. I think Sandy was right in thinking that Jeri and Rusty were meant for each other, which they were!!! It really truly was a miracle when the two men found Jeri in the abandoned house and rescued her. Even though Rusty and Jeri will not admit to themselves that they love each other until the end, it was pretty clear that they liked each other. Because of all of the events they went through with Chum, it made their bonds of friendship and love stonger. That is the one thing I have to thank Chum for in the whole story. I like how Rusty found a Book of Mormom in the prison at the end, and began reading it. I found it cool how he was inspired by its words. I was happy in the end when I learned that Rusty and Jeri got married. I can see why Jeri is still having nightmares about somebody in her life being kidnapped. In the end, she dreams that it is her child. I can see why she still has trouble with dreams because you would never be able to forget an experience(s) that Jeri had to deal through, but at least Rusty is now there to comfort Jeri:)

[Alyson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel is infuriating. The plotting is okay, I guess, if you don't mind chains of events that are too unbelievable to ever happen that way. The editing is terrible—over and over again there are sentences that someone should have caught, such as: "Would you be agreeable to signing an agreement?"

But this author cannot write women. The protagonist is a female who, every time she is on the page in a scene, dissolves into tears. There is no event or situation that does not create a waterfall cascade and necessitate a bunch of eyedrops and enhanced makeup. And she escalates into anger and yells, a lot. I am so sick of her overwrought emotions I'd strangle her myself if she hadn't gotten herself mixed up with the wrong company. I should be worried about her, but I'm rubbing my hands wondering what they'll do to her.

EDIT (now that I've finished the book)

Sigh.

All ended well, I guess. Lots more tears. Everybody cries and uses eyedrops. It is books like this that make me absolutely despair about LDS fiction—the writing is only average (at best), the editing below average, the story and plotline so cliched it's unjust.

Sigh.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book. Like other Clair Poulson books I've read it was a little predictable and this one wrapped up a little too quickly and neatly for me. I think a sequel addressing Rusty's kidnapper and dealing with those feelings as well as a blossoming courtship with Jeri would have been a better way to handle it and tie up that loose end of his story. But it was an interesting book to read and kept me intrigued wondering how Poulson would bring the story to the ending I knew was coming. Not a lot of surprises in this one, but still a good story.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

My dad always buys me a book for Christmas and this was the one this year. It was an entertaining book even though it was quite obvious it was written by an LDS author. I'm not sure what it is about so many of the LDS fiction writers, but they all seem to have that same... something. I can't quite put my finger on it. Naivete? It just had a little bit of that cheesy quality, but still a fun read.

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a fast reader. It was a good suspense book without the filth that usually fill this type of book-LDS author. Lots of mormon references-some made it a little too churchy for me. Otherwise, a great read.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aizlyn needed to read a mystery for school and I had no idea what to suggest since I only read teen paranormal romances. My sister in law recommended this lds fiction mystery and I actually loved it! Thanks Kaley!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, probably because of the child abduction angle. So many of the real stories end tragically, that it's nice to fantasize about one that isn't so tragic.

[LAWonder10 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy Poulson's books, however this wasn't one of his best writings. It lacks suspense and intrigue.

[Sevenupps · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as some of his others. The heroin was a bit of a wimp.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a child who is kidnapped from his front yard while playing with his friend, Jeri. Jeri "looks" for him for decades. She is an accountant and one of her accounts is the local prision, while she is there she takes a tour and sees an inmate (Rusty) who reminds her of her friend who was kidnapped many years ago. She goes back and visits him and finds out that he is her kidnapped friend. She is engaged to a nice guy (Warren) who is in law school who she wants to love, but he keeps saying and doing things that she doesn't like. She starts to fall for Rusty. Rusty gets out of prison and works at a car repair place. The bank find him an apartment and tails him because they think he has hidden the money somewhere and they want to get it back. Unfortunately, Rusty also told his cellmate about the money and he is also released and plans to kill Rusty after he leads him to the money. Jeri ends up getting kidnapped by the cell mate. In the flow of the story, Rusty meets his estranged family and is overcome with Jeri's goodness. Jeri is starting to fall in love with him and her best friend truly does like her fiance more than she does. In the end Rusty turns the money over to the cops and him and jeri get together.

[Carrie Gallman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me weeks to read, and I never ended up finishing it. I'm not sure why it was so difficult for me, but mainly, it was the main characters. I couldn't get attached to either of them, and honestly, they just bugged me. Especially Jeri. The way the book was written was also frustrating to me, but I'm not sure why. I can't say much about this book because I never even finished it, but the following reasons were enough for me to move on to another book. I did, however, love the idea, and the story itself had great potential. This book was just not for me, but I understand that others may love it and really connect with the characters, so that's why I still recommend others to try this one out.

[Jana Barton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read I'll Find You for my book. This book was really slow and the ending was really predictable. This book was about two little kids that were playing outside, and one of the was kidnapped, the one that wasn't kidnapped promised to find the one that was kidnapped. Then it jumps to the future ten years after the kidnapping and the girl that wasn't kidnapped is still looking for her friend. This book had a very basic plot and was boring to read. There also was not much going on during this book. There was some action in this book but not much. There was also a lot of romance. If you like romantic, slow moving books this is the book for you.

[Jazzw Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts I really liked. Other parts, not so much.

Rusty getting a second chance and being reunited with his family was amazing. And his realization that family and relationships are more important than money.

Jeri’s “best friend” is in love with Jeri’s boyfriend? If Warren and Jeri faced the truth, they wouldn’t have dragged out their sorry long distance relationship. Even her parents could see it. Kate & Warren deserve each other. They’re both idiots.

I liked how things got tied up in a neat bow, and justice and mercy. I loved the faith and trust they had in God, to help and bless them.

[Emma Rasband · Rating 4 out of 5]

The word 'suspense' more than fits I'LL FIND YOU perfectly. Poulson keeps you on the edge of your seat, begging for more. On multiple occasions I found myself pushing myself to read faster so I could figure out the ending. I both loved and hated the right characters, so I enjoyed the ending. However, I was kind of expecting more in the epilogue and feel like Poulson skipped a few key moments near the end that I wish he had spent more time with.
Overall, I'LL FIND YOU is a wonderfully crafted story about love, the law, adventure, forgiveness, family, and friends.

[Jessica Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know how this book has as high of a rating as it does. Maybe I'm the only one that loathes Warren? He was abusive and then would love bomb Jeri. And then she'd say, "He really is a good guy." No. No. he's not. I almost dnf so many times, but was like, okay, surely after this massive fight he won't be in the book any longer. No. 97% of the book. And the baffling part, JERI NEVER LOVED HIM!
For being labeled a thriller, the 2.5 pages of "thrillerness" was pretty disappointing.

[Chris Unwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clean Mystery

Six year old Rusty is kidnapped and his best friend Jeri has not stopped looking for him for 17 years. Her boyfriend, Warren, wants her to commit to a serious relationship but she just can't let go of that awful day all those years ago. Will she find Rusty and if she does how will Warren react? Good book. Christian author. LDS slant in parts

[Suze Price · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me a long time to read. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but there’s something about this author’s writing style I just don’t like.

I gave this book 2 stars, because I kinda liked the story, but it was more like 1.5.

I will surprise myself if I ever read another novel by this author