Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Sensitive Londoner Mila, twelve, travels with her father, Gil, to upstate New York to search for Gil's boyhood friend, who has inexplicably disappeared. The subject of this road-trip novel--how much guilt and tragedy can a person bear before he gives up on life?--is adult, but the writing is up to Rosoff's usual standards of originality, depth, wit, and insight. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Mila, 12, a keen observer of people and events, accompanies her translator father, Gil, on a journey from London to upstate New York in search of Gil's lifelong friend, who's disappeared. Mila applies her puzzle-solving skills to the mystery of why Matthew would abandon his wife and baby, not to mention his dog. On a road trip to Matthew's cabin in the woods, she mulls over the possibilities while Gil keeps his thoughts to himself. Mila, who finds strength in her multinational pedigree and her ability to read people, is the one who eventually puts the pieces of the story together. Rosoff respects her young character, portraying her as a complete person capable of recognizing that there are things she may not yet know but aware that life is a sometimes-painful sequence of clues to be put together, leading to adulthood. The author skillfully turns to a variety of literary devices to convey this transition: the absence of quotation marks blurs the line between thoughts spoken and unspoken; past, present, and future merge in Mila's telling just as they do in the lives of the characters as truths come to light and Mila is able to translate Matthew's darkest secrets. A brilliant depiction of the complexity of human relationships in a story that's at once contemplative and suspenseful. (Fiction. 11 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.