It is Halloween night. Four teenage friends spend their evening having fun and scaring younger children then suddenly, quite unexpectedly, one of the four, Martha goes missing. The fifteen year old simply vanishes without a trace leaving her friends and family anxiously searching for her. They are all waiting for Martha to come home, but as the night goes on they come to realise that they might be waiting for a very long time.
Waiting for Martha is a novelette first published as part of the compilation 'Twists and Turns'
Author: Elly Grant
Title: Waiting for Martha
Genre: Young Adult > Contemporary Fiction
Publication Date: February 2013
Links to Purchase: Amazon
Reviewer: Megan
My Review: 3 out of 5 Stars
I don't have too much to say about this short story. It was an interesting book, with a cool twist to the plot. However, I didn't feel connected to any of the characters. The main character Martha was pretty blah... and very selfish if you ask me. This was a short story, so there wasn't much time for developing the characters... however, I did see that this story was originally in a compilation of other short stories (Twists & Turns) and the author received feedback to make it it's own stand alone book. I thought maybe this would give the author a chance to expand on the story.
There were some things I liked... well I should say, I liked the story, but there just wasn't enough connection to it. I did like that the story takes place in France I believe it is (based on the author's home) and I enjoyed the language and banter. There were words or items I did not know so I had to look them up, but that happens when you read books from foreign authors. I have no problem with that as long as it's consistent, which it was.
The cops or detectives were dicks... gosh, if I were Martha's parents I would have kicked them out of my house or filed charges if I was treated like that by officers. As a criminal justice professional, I can understand the need to be skeptical but they should remain neutral and get the facts... they were rude, antagonizing, and constantly pushed to get a rise out of everyone.
Just as I got to the part where my heart began to pound and I was on the edge of my seat... thinking, OMG, here it comes... the story ended. Yep, just like that... it ended where I felt we had finally reached a climax. There was so much that could have happened at this point and it didn't. I understand the author wanted this to be a short story... this is not lost on me, but man... talk about leaving the reader hanging!!
