Abandoned: A Novel

Had this book not been so long and drawn out, I would have probably given it at least another half star. The story starts out with the reader meeting Max, short for Maxine, Revere. Raised by her wealthy grandparents after being dumped off by her transient mother Martha when she was only six years old, Max becomes a private investigator with her own television show. In Abandoned, Max digs into her own past and tries to find out what happened to her mother. The one boyfriend of Martha’s that Max did not like, Jimmy Truman, ended up being her mother’s longest relationship. Martha and Jimmy turn to criminal activities and almost get away with it. What Max uncovers during her time at New Haven, where her mother was last seen, shocks her, and she realizes that she is nothing like her mother.

I enjoyed the characters in this book as they were very well described and had very realistic personalities. Overall, I enjoyed the storyline but it could have been reduced to about three-quarters of what the final book was. There were many repetitive parts and unnecessary dialogue. The book goes from past to present, but because the past years vary and go back and forth themselves, it was a little difficult to keep track of the timeline.