When parents fail their children, sometimes they can repair the damages—and sometimes reparation comes too late or in unexpected ways, suggests Dorrell in her inspirational follow-up to True Believers. Recovering alcoholic Wanda Hunter has been sober for almost two years, and her biggest concern is bringing about reconciliation with her estranged daughter, Kendall. But Kendall has disappeared from her last known address, and it's up to Wanda to track her down, using clues from Kendall's poignant journal entries. When Wanda teams up with her ex-husband, Derek, to search for their daughter, flashbacks are used effectively to build a picture of the life the three of them once shared. Although their search for Kendall is based in Florida, Wanda and Derek's paths soon collide with South Carolina sheriff's investigator Bruce Yeats, who has family problems of his own. Bruce still grieves the childhood pain of his father's abandonment, although he finds himself continuing the cycle of neglect with his own son, Daniel. Bruce's marriage and parenting troubles are exacerbated by the extra hours he's putting in to discover the identity of a decomposed woman murdered in the woods, and another victim who was brutally assaulted and lies comatose. After an eerie prologue, the suspense drops off fairly quickly, and it never rises past a gentle hum as the search by Wanda and Derek moves relentlessly toward their intersection with Bruce's investigation. The novel suffers from a few pacing problems, and the story doesn't quite sparkle. The unexpected ending, however, admirably avoids an easy conclusion. (Jan.)
