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Left me with questions
“I received this book by mistake. I thought I had ordered The Dollmaker by Harriet Arnow. I read this one by Amanda Stevens anyway. It was interesting but after I finished it, I spent half the night trying to tie things together. I never did figure out why they kidnapped Ruby and why she resembled the original Maddy in such detail. What happened to Ruby? I can't understand this book.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-07-12. -
Great cover, not very 'thrilling' book.
“Clare and Dave's young daughter disappeared seven years, without a trace. Dave found his solace in a bottle, leading to the end of his marriage. Claire has remarried, but that marriage is falling apart. When she sees a doll in a shop window, a doll that looks remarkably like her missing daughter, Clare turns to Dave, who is now sober and a private investigator, to find out what the doll maker knows about their child's disappearance.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-04-06.
Although the book has a good premise, and the characters of Clare, Dave and others are well developed, this book was for me neither suspenseful nor thrilling. I found it a solid read, but figured out the mystery fairly quickly and found nothing too remarkable about the book, I never felt that edge of the seat excitement I look for in books of this kind. A good, but pedestrian thriller.
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A SPOOKY READ
“I really liked this book. It was an easy read and I loved the story about 2 characters Claire and Dave who lost a child and about a dollmaker who makes the dolls to look exactly like the victims. I agree with another reviewer regarding the cover and the way the doll with the eye draws you. This is a great spooky read with a good story. Not gorry or graphic like a lot of those Gothic vampire novels which I don't care for. Written in good taste. ”
An amazon user wrote this on 2008-08-03. -
2 of 2 members found this review helpful.
Not As Expected
“There is something about this cover that I absolutely adore. When I first spotted it as the avatar of a MySpace friend, I fell in love. Knowing it's a book of suspense, I assumed it would be this spine-tingling, goosebump ride. Dolls have the ability to be very scary objects.
An amazon user wrote this on 2008-04-11.
Then, one day while searching Harlequin's site, I came across MIRA, and OMG this book was one of them. Being a H/S line, I then assumed it would be a romantic suspense-heavy on the sappy, cheesy romance.
I should never assume. :wink:
Claire Doucett's daughter, Ruby, was kidnapped seven years ago. Now, Claire sees a doll in a shop window that resembles Ruby identically-including a tiny birthmark. No one believes her, so Claire turns to the one person who she thinks will, her ex-husband and Ruby's father, Dave Creasy. Together they unravel the past and hunt down a psychopath.
This is a very well-written, highly descriptive book. The characters are beautifully flawed, and I cried at the end. I found it very interesting that Claire wasn't introduced until chapter three. There is very little romance (some of which is off-page), which is perfectly fine, and sometimes preferable, for this suspense lover. It has a very rich setting (New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina), and the author's love for area is very obvious.
Being someone who dislikes a lot of description in general and setting description even more, these parts of the book actually dragged for me. As a matter of fact, I felt the entire book moved way too slow. On the blurb, it states the doll is stolen, the shop owner turns up dead and Claire turns to her ex-husband. The shop owner's body doesn't turn up until page 238. Before this, Claire and Dave had one very brief conversation.
I've also seen reviews and comments about this book stating it is a thriller and creepy. Up until the very last couple of scenes, I found there to be very little edge-of-your-seat suspense, and it certainly was never creepy or a thriller. I have to say this greatly disappointed me. The trailer for The Dollmaker was very chilling, and to my tastes, better than the actual book.
It is an enjoyable book, as long as you know what you are getting into. It is an easy, pleasant read, and despite my disappointment, I will gladly give her next book, The Devil's Footprints, a read.” -
2 of 3 members found this review helpful.
Sorry, not thrilling and not chilling!
“The Dollmaker was a good book. It was easy to read, had a good plot, good flawed characters, but I did not find this book even remotely chilling or thrilling. I kept waiting for the eerie parts to begin, but maybe I've read too many other suspenseful books that had more chills and thrills. The character development was excellent. The overall story was very entertaining, but I felt let down. We're never really told what he did with Ruby. We have to assume. I had already very early figured out the connection between Maddy and Matthew. I think too many ends were left undone. I know all this sounds negative, when in fact, it was a good book. Just not what I expected according to the reviews.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2008-03-24.
