November book club - The Girl in the Red Coat

I have mixed feelings about this book. Beth's pain and distress was described very well but I found it tended to get a bit boring as it went on. I enjoyed the alternative chapter flicking from her to Carmel. Its was not the thriller I anticipated but found it 'shivers down the spine' as I have a Grandaughter the same age and it so easily can happen to you. I wanted more detail about Grandfather and was left wondering. I know it had a happy ending which is not usual in these types of abduction but I felt a deep sadness at the lost years between mother and child whilst she had been away and grown into a young lady. Average book.

Thanks again Gransnet for encouraging me to read a book I would have walked away from. I've said before that I only go for "light" subjects in the books I choose.
I'm glad I didn't have long to read it or I might have put it off. I was very unsure if I could read a book about child abduction.

I found it a very compelling read. Hard to put down and read in about 4 sessions which is good for me.
Having said that for a book with such detailed descriptions most of the way through, I was disappointed that the end was so sudden and there were, for me, unanswered questions.
What happened to the original Mercy?
Did Carmel's gift stay with her or was Maxine the last person she healed (did she heal her?)
What happened after Beth and Carmel were reunited?

Is Kate going to revisit the characters or is the next book going to be totally different?

I was told I had won but never received my copy.

Thank you so much for my copy, which unfortunately only arrived a few days ago, but I shall start reading it immediately and hopefully will not be too late for giving my comments.

I was a little disappointed with "Red Coat". It seemed that Carmel although only eight years old, was quite "bright" so I was rather surprised that she made no attempt to escape , as she wasn't actually imprisoned or restrained. I know she was told her Mother had died but it still seemed rather odd to me. Gramps & Dorothy were definitely weird, and I am not really into the "airy fairy " healing thing.

Hi I also received my copy of this book late - just about at the end of November, and now I find I can't get into it. Soz. Tried 3 times and have now given it to my daughter to read.

Thanks for my book which I have just finished reading. When I started reading it I was a bit worried that it would be too harrowing and it was a bit, a child going missing is every parent's nightmare. When I got to the end, like another one of your readers, I felt there were quite a few questions I wanted answering. I felt it ended too soon and in a bit of a rush. Despite that I did like the characters in the book and their bravery, especially Carmel. Although the Dad Paul was slightly annoying. On the whole a good read but not a great read

Just finished this book today. I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would as I wouldn't choose a thriller. However it was much more than that even though as others have said it was a bit slow in parts and a lot of the ending was left unexplained. I used to work with a lady who was an Evangelical Christian and I was fascinated by how many things that happened in the book were things that she mentioned in her descriptions of what went on in her church. (healing, uneven legs growing etc). I wonder if the author has had any first hand connection with this sect.

A bit late in getting the book, but pleased to have been sent a copy.
Its not a thriller in my mind though.
It kept me interested in the beginning but I did get a bit bored as it went on as I kept expecting more to happen.
It is well written, but Carmel's part of the story was far too advanced vocabulary for a young child.
There are some loose ends I would liked to have tied up.
Overall I enjoyed it and will look out for Kate Hamer's next book.

I did enjoy this book although I wouldn't call it a thriller. Not my usual choice of book but pleased I had a chance to read it.
Did feel it ended before everything was explained and felt there should have been one more chapter.

Sorry, a bit late in contributing. I enjoyed the book, but felt there were a few things which seemed a bit 'far-fetched'. e.g. How did Carmel get to America without any suspicions being aroused; why did she accept her new life when she clearly felt uncomfortable;
Having said that I did find the book compelling and enjoyed the way the chapters alternated between Beth and Carmel' stories.
It also ended with the reader wondering what had happened after the reunion, or perhaps that was meant to be left to the reader to decide.
A good read, but not a thriller.
Thank you for the copy. I shall pass it on to my DD to see what she thinks about it.

Just finished reading it. Enjoyed it very much. I thought that it left enough loose ends to start a new book. Maybe that is the author's intention.

This story revolves around the greatest fear of a parent – the unexplained disappearance of a child. This seems to be a product of the present time as I'm sure that level of panic wasn't around in the same way when I was young. A consequence of this is that the most dangerous place for children has now become the school entrance, with urban tanks being driven by mothers who are barely capable of controlling a pram.

We follow the development of the tragedy from the view points of both the mother and the daughter, most times, but not always, the same period of time being seen from both sides. Here we get the impression that both blame themselves for what happened, the mother for being angry and distracted at the festival, the daughter for being stroppy and selfish. If they had their time again they would do different.

But it's not as easy as that. The abductor uses the young girl's innocence to get information which he is then able to use against her, to fool her into believing that he is who she thinks. Her own desire, and by not having her mother's break with her parents explained previously, means that, in a way, she was looking for him. The recent abandoning of her and her mother by her father only adds to her confusion and vulnerability. The mother beats herself up as that is the only way she can face the situation as there is no news of Carmel at all as the months turn into years.

And that works well until the abductors take her out of the country.

We are asked to accept that she is flown to the United States, drugged and totally unaware of what happened. This takes place some time after the actual abduction and becomes even more unbelievable because of it. Although an intelligent young girl she just seems to accept the situation as it gets more and more bizarre. This is the case even when she comes across evidence that things aren't all that it should be – but is that me expecting an eight year old to be more astute than they are in fact?

The reason she is abducted in the first place is due to the idea that the crazy old man has that she has special powers. And this makes a lot of money for her new 'family' but we are asked to accept that she really does have such powers? Where does that come from? Just because a child doesn't fit into the norm it doesn't mean that s/he is actually a miracle child.

Then we have a big jump in time. The majority of the novel takes place in the first year around the abduction but then we jump a matter of 4 years or more. Now Carmel is a teenager and although we are given glimpses that she is more aware of certain aspects of what she is involved in – a scam that makes a lot of money for a few people – she doesn't seem to learn from all her experiences in a strange land with even stranger people.

This unravelling of reality is what changed a promising start and an interesting concept eventually into an unsatisfying read.

I've now finally got into this book, and read it. Possibly because I had more time lately for reading.

I thought the premise was good and therefore did become interested, for example, as it dawned on me that this abduction had to do with religious craziness (rather then what I was anticipating it may be, sexual abuse).

But like others, there was quite a bit in the book that we were asked to accept and I would question - e.g. why didn't this intelligent girl go straight to the organisers of the book fair when she realised that she had lost her mother again? It's not like it was the first time it had happened to her and she should have known the ropes, I'm sure her mum would have spelled it out to her what to do should she ever find herself separated from her mother again. I also found it confusing, and the explanation a bit vague, that she then found herself in the U.S.A. I find it unbelievable that never once in all the time she was with the old man and Dorothy, that she didn't approach or talk to any other adults (particularly during the times when she was out with Dorothy) e.g. in a shop, and at the very least tell them her story. Her acceptance of the old man's explanations for her mother and her father not being available, would not have been sufficient to silence an intelligent young child (I would think), especially because the "granddad" was decidedly odd.

I found myself skimming the last few chapters.

I had given the book to my daughter to read and she enjoyed it a lot, so perhaps it is the "older and wiser" reader that would find much to question.

Thank you for the book, I received it with no problems and was looking forward to reading it over the Christmas holiday. Much appreciated.

Initially I found it rather shallow and struggled to keep reading, but bore in mind a comment on the book jacket that said it should be read "in one go"! After a while I become more involved with the characters but although the mother was very credible and I got her entirely, I did not find the daughter realistic. Carmel just did not ring true and seemed like a mini-adult rather than a child. The story lacked some depth and could have had other threads woven into it, for example the background and character of the real Mercy, the background of Gramps etc.

Its easy to criticise when I have not written a book and am unlikely to do so! However, thats the point of giving feedback - GREAT story but more work on detail and background for me please!

Thank you for my copy of 'The Girl in the Red Coat'. Like other readers I found it a little difficult to think that Carmel would just accept her abduction and not attempt to make outsiders realise her situation. All part of the religious brainwashing, I guess. Descriptions of the meetings, healings and talking in tongues were very accurate. I'd like to know if Kate Hamer had experience of seeing these or if she has written from internet or book research. It would have been a better read if there had been more linkage and detail particularly around the journey to the USA. The book has gaps that could be filled to maintain the reader's interested. The story would make a excellent TV film, has Kate Hamer any plans for this?

Grrrrr.... why do posts make perfect sense during writing and previewing then produce glaring errors the very second I press to post? Sorry! I need to walk away from the keyboard now

A late arrival of my copy, mid December, leads to a late review as Christmas got in the way. However, once I started it I was right there with the Mum, Beth, who had lost Carmel on a day out. The chapters mostly alternated with viewpoints from Mum and Carmel herself. the circumstances of her disappearance were believable and tracking both their lives in the aftermath of this horrible ongoing event was challenging as I got further on. The quality of the descriptive writing and the dialogue from a child, flipping with a turn of a page to an adult had me hooked. The oddness of Carmel was reflected back into the past with a glimpse at her Grandmothers past. The plot was gripping although towards the last chapters I read slower as I was slightly nervous of the possible outcomes. All in all a thoroughly good read, a memorable book about a difficult subject.