Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy

Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

When Liv and Nora decide to take their husbands and children on a holiday cruise, everyone is thrilled. The ship's comforts and possibilities seem infinite. But when they all go ashore in beautiful Central America, a series of minor mishaps lead the families further from the ship's safety.

One minute the children are there, and the next they're gone.

What follows is a heart-racing story told from the perspectives of the adults and the children, as the distraught parents - now turning on one another and blaming themselves - try to recover their children and their shattered lives.

Not a fan of this novel. The pace was quite slow and onerous taking until chapter 8 before it really got going. I didn't engage with the characters who were not developed enough although the storyline was promising it wasn't crafted out well and because of this there was little opportunity for surprises as the author directed the reader.

It all seemed a bit contrived to me, the introduction of the poor child Noemi trying to reach her family travelling through unsafe South America seemed to have been invented to contrast with the main characters and added little to the story.

A disappointment really and the ending was weak and without any fireworks. Sadly this can only get 2 stars from me. There are far better books out there.