All The Lost Things by Michelle Sacks | Review

All The Lost Things by Michelle Sacks

Published: June 4, 2019

Publisher: Little Brown and Company

Pages: 288

Received: from publisher (HBG Canada) for honest review

Find Online: Goodreads

A simmering family drama about a father and daughter who embark on a road trip through the American South -- but what they're leaving behind is as important as what lies ahead.

 
When we first meet seven-year-old Dolly, she immediately grabs us with a voice that is both precocious and effervescent. It has been a while since her dad has spent time with her, just the two of them, and so when he scoops her up and promises to take her on the adventure of a lifetime, Dolly is thrilled. 

The first days on the road are incredibly exciting. Every pit stop promises a new delight for Dolly and her favourite plastic horse, Clemesta, who she's brought along for the adventure. There are milkshakes, shopping sprees, a theme park, and all the junk food she isn't allowed to eat under her mother's watchful eye. And, for the first time, she has her father's attention all to herself. But as they travel further south, into a country Dolly no longer recognizes, her dad's behavior grows increasingly erratic. He becomes paranoid and irresponsible, even a little scary. The adventure isn't fun anymore, but home is ever farther away. And Dolly isn't sure if she'll ever get back.

A compulsively readable work of psychological suspense from the first mile to the last, All the Lost Things introduces a remarkable young heroine who leaps off the page, charts a life-changing journey, and ultimately reveals the sometimes heartbreaking intersections of love, truth, and memory.

 

When Hachette (HBG Canada) asked if I was interested in this book, I knew I couldn't pass it up. I loved a good domestic and psychological suspense story. And this gave me both. 

Told from the POV of seven-year-old Dolly, we follow her through her first adventure alone with her Dad. He packed a bag, grabbed her hand and told her they were going on an adventure while Mom was away on her girls trip. Dolly was over the moon excited to have alone time with him since he generally works too much and is grumpy all the time. 

Dolly has a magical toy horse, Clemesta, that speaks only to her. This horse is like the voice of reason and tries so hard to get Dolly to see that things don't seem to be adding up and this adventure is not really all the fun that Daddy promised. Clemesta tries so many times to open Dolly's eyes to what is right in front of her if she would just let herself remember - this leads to her thinking about the secrets she has locked away.

The story is written in exactly the way you would think a seven-year-old processes things. How her mind tucks away details into her NOT NOW box for recalling later. She is a smart cookie and always wanting to learn so during her trip she shares the fun facts that she knows with her Dad and random people they meet along the way. She distracts herself in this way to avoid the truth of her situation.

It's sad to me that this little girl knows the promises being broken when her Dad drinks the amber liquid he loves so often. How her anger towards him about it brings him to tears and apologies. I can empathize with her so much with this aspect of her relationship with her Dad. 

The entire time through the novel my gut kept telling me what it thought had caused the impromptu road trip, but at the same time I tried to talk myself out of it. That it wasn't what it seemed. The ending still surprised me a little only because I didn't expect Dolly's father to do what he finally resolved to do when he realized Dolly needed more than just him in her life.

This was a very quick read, but has big impact. There was a chapter near the end that had me in tears, bawling while laying in bed next to my toddler. She grabbed my face to ask why I was crying and I told her that my story was making me sad. She told me not to be sad, it's just a story. I needed that so much right then, because dramatic stories that centre are around children always have big impact on me. 

"Brave was good. Better than anything else you can be, like beautiful or famous or rich. Brave is the best of all because you can't ever lose it or have it stolen from you or leave it behind. It can follow you to the end of the world." 

Have you read All The Lost Things or any other domestic suspense books involving children? Let me know in the comments.