Carolina Caccia, a divorced mother of two, confronts her worst fears when her son goes missing during a family ski trip. As she discovers her son has been taken, she must revisit her dark past to rescue her child.
Alexandria Clarke is a writer, cat lover, and all-around optimist. She loves to immerse her readers in mystery and intrigue, meaningful friendships, and the worlds of characters who learn by doing. When she's not writing, Alex enjoys playing guitar, watching Wynonna Earp, and spending time with her family. She currently lives in Orlando, Florida with her partner and their four pets.
A very quick and light read. Good characters, good mystery and excellent pacing. Alexandria Clarke has a gift for dialogue writing. Her characters feel real and believable. I'm happy to have discovered her books.
I really enjoyed this mystery set in the mountains of North Carolina. Carolina Caccia, a retired FBI agent, goes to a vacation at a ski resort with her two kids, to meet up with her ex-husband, his new wife and her two girls. The vacation starts out badly, with her ex forgetting his son's birthday. Benji (the son) leaves to go back to their room, and is abducted on his way from the restaurant. The local police aren't very helpful, so Carolina calls on her old partner Mila to help her find her son. The setting was great, and I loved the storyline and why Benji was abducted.
I always have a difficult time with child kidnappings and or abuse because I love children so much However that doesn’t mean that a great book about this topic is off limits. This story was an amazingly compelling read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This story was a good story, however it was told with many holes and many cliches. The author seemed to forget details she had mentioned and then went on as if they never had been. This happened throughout the book, but an example at the end was when she got dressed to go out in the cold and snow, wearing gloves that had warmers built in yet she took hand warmers in her pocket. Then she broker wrist yet was able to climb a rock face and pull someone else up after. Another happened in the beginning when they were packing to go and Carolina tells her daughter to pack the insulin for her little brother. They get in the car and are driving for a while and the daughter says she forgot the insulin. There is no mention of going back for it but they get to the cabin and they have it. So many inconsistencies.
Then when the mother's child is missing she has no problem leaving the resort when their vacation ends. I've never had a missing child but I have had a grandchild die suddenly and this mother just didn't respond like one whose child was missing.
She also did not act like the best FBI agent in the force at one time, hiding information that could have helped find him. I quit this book but went back to see how it ended. The story has potential. I think the author needs a good editor to help with the inconsistencies and some minor errors. I don't think I will be reading the next book.
This book had potential but just didn't reach it. Even the title didn't seem to hit the mark. The Girl in the Snow...a boy child disappears at a ski resort while his blended family are on vacation together, and his mother is an ex FBI agent who worked on missing children cases. Not sure what that has to do with the title. Carolina has custody of her 2 children. Her ex and his new family agree to vacation at the same resort to have the father spend more time with his bio children, however the father only scores points with his new step children. He forgets his 7 yr old son's birthday and leaving the dinner which Benji thought was his big birthday surprise, Benji disappears. Carolina and her daughter are upset of course, but in my opinion, not as hysterical as I would be, had my child gone missing. The daughter is told to go boarding, the mother and father just wring their hands. Carolina and her daughter go home, then the mother/ex FBI decides she better go back and look for her kid, get FBI help. HUH? I'd be tearing that place apart and she knows the score on missing kids? Sorry...2 weeks go by, no leads. Just didn't cut it for me.
The Girl in the Snow was a book that did not reach its potential. It's premise was sound. Carolina Caccia, a divorced mom, takes he kids to a ski resort so the can have time with their father, her ex. This is complicated because he's there with his new fam. As one would imagine, fireworks ensue, and one of Carolina's kids goes missing. Since Carolina is an ex-FBI agent who specializes in missing kids (the first in a series of convenient coincidences), naturally, she becomes involved in the investigation. What did work for me was the characters. They were deep and believable, far from cardboard. The setting was well-done, obviously based on an actual place that the author was familiar with. But ultimately, this story did not work well for me because it felt too contrived. Carolina did some things that were totally off the hook, which should have gotten her into serious trouble, but was given a bye as an ex-FBI agent. There were also too many coincidences, and the ending was somewhat predictable. And a minor point -- who the heck was the girl in the snow? IMO, she never did show up.
This is a startling story of a kidnapping that occurs in a winter ski resort, when families are getting together to rest, relax and have some fun. Single mum Carolina (Lina) Caccia is a divorced mother of two but also an ex-FBI agent. Her speciality was kidnapping and missing people/children cases. She now works as a teacher in a local school, not exactly what she wanted to really be doing. She has taken her son Benji and daughter Ophelia to the ski resort to meet up with her ex-husband Amos and his new wife Pilar and her two daughters. The relationship between Carolina and Amos is still very fraught, Carolina has full custody of the kids, from being a working stiff for the FBI and Amos being the home husband, until he got too fed up of the role and life with her in general.
It is going to Benji’s birthday during this visit, but Amos is more into his new family than the one he walked away from over four years ago and has not made much of an effort to interact with his children since he left. Ophelia is an older teen and knows what went on when her parents split and has no expectations from her dad, but Benji is still very eager to have his dad’s attention. The family get together on the evening of his birthday, leaves his dad basically forgetting, as usual and as expected, that it is his son’s birthday and Benji storms off back to their hotel room. Carolina follows along after him, but only after having words with her ex! When she gets back to the hotel room, he is not there!
This starts the search for her son, with a local female detective being very short with her and basically blaming her, as does her ex, and not wanting any of her help, even though she has so much experience in this field. She is told to act like a parent and that she wasn’t an FBI agent anymore! The only real worry on top of this, is that her son is a type one diabetic, needing insulin supplies for his insulin pump every three days. Carolina uses her old work links to speak to her old partner at the FBI, Mila, and asks for her help in keeping her in the loop with any updates. She tries to keep life normal for her daughter, but even she is feeling the pressure and wants to do what she can to help.
The local detective thinks that Benji has just run away, after getting upset with his dad and refuses to get much done to follow a kidnapping or abduction thread until far too late. Heavy snow fall quickly covers up any possible evidence. Add in the inept investigation and search that is lacklustre at best, is not up to the standards of Carolina’s own expectations. To her surprise, her friend and former partner, Mila, gets herself attached to the case and starts to re-investigate all the leads, of which there are practically none, and is upset that she can’t help her friend like she wants to!
Anxiety issues bring some strange behaviour and Carolina treads a very fine line in taking up the investigation for herself, whilst they are still at the resort. Unfortunately, the end of their planned break comes to an end and Carolina can’t afford to continue to stay at the hotel. Her daughter needs to get back for school and she is supposed to return to work. But, that is something she can’t stick with for long. She returns to the resort and continues investigating, quickly getting a ransom note, with some unusual drop off instructions. Further investigations lead her back to her past, the cases and people she might have interacted with back then. Something is linked to her dark past and involvement in child kidnappings. Only she believes in who she believes may be responsible and her strong son is feeding her breadcrumbs which will hopefully lead her to him.
An exciting story, with a very tragic event at the centre of the story. The past events that Carolina has haunting her memories, left her doubting herself and helped to end her marriage. She has struggled to bring up the kids on her own since and now is being faced with the ultimate test. A true mystery located in the winter wonderland of a holiday ski resort. A place families come for fun and relaxation, but where sinister events and revenge happen. This is a great mystery and criminal investigative story, with some really strong characters, some you want to hate, and others who leave you wondering how on earth they have so much strength. A storyline that unfortunately happens all over our modern world, but well worth a read! I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
What a stupid book! 20% of the story was blah blah blah about family drama. Then the kid finally disappeared!
***SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS***
What was the stupidest thing about this plot? Benji is almost eight years old. The guy who took him brought a computer to the cabin and Benji used it to hire a woman to go to the hotel (were Benji had been staying), pretend to be a maid, go to Benji’s room, take his medication, some clothes, and plant a drawing for clues.
Yes, people, eight years old Benji had the... intelligence to carry this out. Even more astonishing is that the woman he hired “was a small-time criminal. Petty theft, drug dealing, and a little bit of sex work on the side.” For $50 dollars, (where did he get the money from?) she went to Benji’s room and did as Benji instructed her.
I definitely want my money back.
And did I mention that Benji’s parent never cried because their son was missing? Aha!
And after three days of Benji’s disappearance, Benji’s mom left the resort to go back to wherever she lived and wait for news about his son. Really!
All in all, this is a short book and a quick read. Nothing deep. Just a mystery (how did Benji disappear without trace?), a light investigation, and the solution.
Lastly, what does the title have to do with the story? A boy disappeared, no a girl.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Could have been good! Very disrespectful to women with current or former FBI agents. Being a Mom doesn’t mean you are a ditz. Very inconsistent editing/proof reading - example(girl at dinner in restaurant earbuds in playing with phone- next ex husband arguing with girl’s Mother about she won’t let the girl and younger son have cell phones DUH! Women Former FBI agent finally having guts to find son jumps 20 feet out window & preceded to break wrist but the tromps up a hill in 4 ft of snow, climbs a big Rock all with one hand... excuse me🙄 not sure why 5?stars worth🙄🤪
i read this as a 2 box set. Book two being a case during Carolina's new PI career. Book 1 and 2 were both excellent. I can't believe with all the thrillers I read I didn't catch the 'bad guy' for who he was, or she. Sorry no spoilers. Carolina left the FBI to raise her kids but it is still in her veins and thank God because she is the only one smart enough to connect some pretty obscure dots. And her kids and ex are equal parts helpful and pains to deal with. The stories flow well and balance Carolina's civilian life with her 'cop life'. Quick pace, enough what ifs, and tells a suspenseful tale without gore or over the top violence.
I had a hard time liking the main character. She was too immature for my liking. All the illegal activities she and her FBI friend do without any legal consequences made it difficult to accept as real. The whole bit of her going to a teenage party was ridiculous. There were other things that were minor and escape my memory. I’m having a difficult time finding something else to read currently so I’ll probably give the next one a try, but right now it isn’t a series that has me excited to continue.
I'd have said 5, but Carolina jumped out the window and. Fell 20 ft. But broke her fall on some bushes. She slammed her hand against a brick wall and heard the bones break. Yet after that, in the cabin with Milan, nothing, absolutely no more mention yet she was able to rescue benji, too. I kind of lost respect for the writer and editor. Someone should have picked that up.
This book was a fast read, mainly because I couldn't put it down. The characters had relationship issues, parenting pressures, jobs that kept them busy and made them feel like everyday stresses we all deal with. The story was well told and detailed drawing me in and I couldn't help but to sympathize with the main character Carolina. If you love a great mystery read The Girl in the Snow by Alexandria Clarke.
Entertaining. Characters are appealing. For a trained FBI agent, protagonist stretches credulity a bit that she has such poor emotional modulation Re her ex-husband, local detective. Surely she would have encountered such tight-assed controlling cops, people who played her emotions before. She, of all people would have learned to hang on to her impulses when with her ex.
This is my first book from this of but it won't be my last. It's about a single mom that used to be an FYI agent. The family goes on a skiing holiday and her son disappears. There are a lot of twists and turns with a lot of mystery. The characters are very well developed and believable. The dialogue flows freely and smoothly. The editing is clean with very little spelling or grammatical errors. I would recommend this book to anyone.
I enjoyed this book very much. It was a mystery that it was hard to solve. The characters in the book were so realistic it makes you think that you were there with them. It told about a family in crisis but brought together by a bigger crisis and it all worked out in the end.
A story that is very well written. It's so true to life that, had my adult children been younger and still in my care, I probably would have had nightmares about the same scenario happening to one of them. A truly riveting story that keeps your chest aching as you read until the incredible climax! Fantastic book!
Wow! From the beginning this book roles me in. I felt the feelings that Carolina felt. Maybe due to also being a mother but I loved this book and it keeps you on edge and wanting more. I felt the happiness, sadness and the fear she felt.
Really more like a 3.5* but it kept me reading, which is a plus. The story was a little off kilter. Arrogant Detective, first kid ran away, then Father accused kidnapper, then Mother is accused, random demanded but no one knows. Wishy-washy investigation. This series, if given a chance could improve, but only time will tell.
I could not put this book down, it kept me guessing til the very end. There was just enough to make you think different characters could be guilty of taking Benji. I enjoyed reading this book.
A wonderful intriguing mystery that has a fantastic plot with some twists and turns. The characters have depth to them and there is a lot of emotion in this story.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This book was different than I thought it was going to be but none the less it was very good! I didn't realize the "girl in the snow" was the main character. I think she was justified in almost everything she did because she was the parent of the child that was missing.
Quick, mysterious and adventurous. A great story about an ex-FBI agent who's son goes missing without a trace. They are at a ski resort where the snow is abundant and the mom finds the clues nobody else has. Can't wait to read another book by this author.
I wanted to like this book, but there were too many details that didn't line up. I just had to quit. I rarely quit a book, but I quit this one out of frustration. This writer desperately needs an honest editor.
Read in just hours! This is definitely a page turner. Great plot that kept me guessing till the end but tied together very nicely with the perfect ending. Looking forward to starting book 2.
It keeps you interested. There are some editing mistakes here and there but you can still get passed those and have the story. The characters are enjoyable. Overall decent.
The story was ok, but predictable. I figured out who the kidnapper was as soon as soon the character was introduced, and continuity was also an issue for me. For example, at the beginning our heroine mentions her new SUV, but further on her car is 8 year old minivan.
I always enjoy finding an author new to me. I found this book engaging. I liked the characters and I enjoyed the suspense. You would not be wasting your time if you choose to read this mystery. I will be excited to know what Carolina’s next adventure will be.