Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Forgive Me by Daniel Palmer

Forgive Me by Daniel Palmer (Kensington, 2016) is a stand-alone thriller from my Bouchercon book bag, which seems to have been light on genuine mysteries this year. Angela DeRose’s investigation agency in Arlington, Virginia, specializes in locating runaway children. Her interest in helping at-risk teens and their families stems from the disappearance of her best friend in college just before they graduated. No clue to her fate ever surfaced, and Angie is determined that no other family will suffer the same sense of loss and grief if she can help it.

Workaholic Angie is devastated when her mother dies suddenly. In sorting through her mother’s possessions and papers, she finds an older photograph of a small child with the words “Forgive me” and a string of numbers written on the back. Her father doesn’t know anything about it and Angie is haunted by this secret in her mother’s life. Her search for the child’s identity and the meaning of the numbers on the back of the photo forms the overarching framework of the book. The investigative work that leads Angie to the little girl’s name and location is well done and the plot twist at the end that explains Angie’s mother’s connection to the child is explosive, surprising, and plausible.

Nearly half of the story however is consumed with the detailed and graphic description of the seduction and coercion of a 16-year-old into a sex trafficking ring, and Angie’s search for her. This unflinching narrative reads as if it were taken from actual case records.

I find it interesting that the publisher’s blurb makes no mention of the sex trafficking thread which forms a significant part of the book, focusing only on the photo of the unidentified little girl.

However, I had the feeling that this is two separate stories folded into one book, one being extraneous to the other, making it a mildly disorienting read. Action-packed with physical and sexual violence.

·         Hardcover: 416 pages

·         Publisher: Kensington (May 31, 2016)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 075829347X

·         ISBN-13: 978-0758293473

Aubrey Hamilton ©2018

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.