Book Review: BRONSWOOD

 

Title: Bronswood

Author: Marissa Vanskike

Publisher: Marissa Vanskike

Pages: 316

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

 

 

Heather Hartford is happily married to Nick, a handsome and wealthy man who cares deeply for her and her two children, Charlie and Theodora. Her ex-husband, Paul Lauer, an abusive and violent man, is seeking shared custody of the kids. Heather’s best friend, Zola, thinks Nick is too controlling but Heather dismisses her concerns. She knows what an abuser looks like.

 

Meanwhile, Heather is being welcomed by Liv Osborne, Harriet Porter and Shay Stafford, the high-profile PTA moms at the prestigious Bronswood elementary school where her son has been accepted.

Heather is nervous, wanting to be accepted by them, yet uneasy about the unsigned notes she has been receiving of late, notes that warn her that something foul is going on, notes that keep coming. She wants to believe that her life is perfect, but her sense of unease persists.

 

Then one day Charlie disappears from school. The camera footage shows that Heather picked him up, but she knows she hasn’t. With Nick and the school blaming her, Heather begins her own investigation into Charlie’s disappearance, only to find that he is not the first schoolboy to have disappeared from Bronswood.

 

Will Heather ever find her son back? Or will he be lost to her forever?

 

The story is written in the third person present tense PoV of Heather. The book raises the issues of abuse, physical and violent, in the domestic space.

 

The story should have started with something more immediate than a catchup session at a coffee shop between Heather and Zola. It was the most boring way of bringing us up to speed. It was only after Charlie’s disappearance that the story took off.

 

The chapters weren’t too long, but the action was well paced, and the characterization was good for the most part. Headmistress Rosler was a minor character I never want to meet.

 

Nick was rather creepy. He selected, on a daily basis, the clothing that Heather and the kids would wear. Heather was also forced to note down all that she ate and drank in a food journal, which Nick regularly inspected.

 

He [Nick] was the picture of a concerned father, while Heather played the part of a raving lunatic tells us all we need to know about anyone would perceive the couple.

 

I liked Heather, particularly her diligent efforts to find her son. That she has the responsibility of looking after toddler Theodora, while she goes about her investigation, adds to her difficulties.

 

There’s a hint of the supernatural around the conclusion, which isn’t out of place.

 

While I liked the book, there were some things I didn’t like. The amount of food that gets thrown down the disposal chute is utterly distasteful. I cringed every time Heather cooked some dish or the other and then tossed it away without a thought.

 

There were other issues about the book that got in the way of a satisfying read.

 

There was no tangible explanation for why the antagonists did what they did. How their back story justified their actions in their minds. Why were second graders being kidnapped? Why only boys?

 

The mystery of why Charlie’s teacher was known to Heather as Miss Kilgore when she was apparently Miss Crawford wasn’t addressed.

 

Smaller points that rankled:

Why does Heather have golden orbs, cracked gold lanterns and oversized ribbons in her basement? Things that are used as part of gala décor are in her basement?

 

The names of the husbands and children of Liv and Shay were mentioned, but Harriet is also a PTA mom, but we get no mention of her husband or child.

 

I wish writers didn’t repeat names or have two characters with names beginning with the same letters, particularly if they are interacting together in scenes. Heather and Harrier together were confusing. Also, there was a parent called Caleb Landers and a child called Caleb Norton. The surname of the journalist who writes about the disappearance changes from Cannon to Colins.

 

It’s strange that Theo never once asks about her brother, even though, at nearly three, she’s old enough to ask. Heather tells us that the two used to play together, but Theo doesn’t seem to register that her brother isn’t home. That was odd.

 

Stephen was a character who was built up and made much of, but he didn’t serve any purpose in the story.

 

Had these issues been resolved, I have no doubt Bronswood would have been an even better read.

 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)