This horror/thriller follows Victoria McQueen and Charlie Manx. While growing up, Victoria (Vic) discovers her gift for finding lost things by riding her bike over a bridge that shouldn't exist. Within moments, she travels from her home in New Hampshire to wherever the lost item is - even if it is across the country. At the same time that Vic is using her gift for finding things, Charlie Manx is using his similar power to kidnap children and bring them to Christmasland. The two initially go about their lives with no knowledge of the other until one day where Vic goes looking for Manx. After that day, Vic spends her life trying to escape the memories of that day whereas Manx hasn't stopped thinking about Vic and is determined to get her back. Years later, with Vic has a child of her own, Manx comes back and in order to save her son, Vic must embrace what happened to her as well as her own powers.
At almost 700 pages, this book was certainly a project to read. It took me about a month to get through, which I was a little surprised about. But there was just something about the pacing and narration that made me not pick this up unless I had a few hours of uninterrupted time. I really wanted to make sure I had enough time to sink into the story. This is my first read from Hill, so I was also worried that there would be some bloat or unnecessary parts of this long of a read. I was incredibly pleased that I did not find that to be true at all with this read. So if, like me, you have heard great things about this read but the length is giving you pause, I would encourage you to pick this up because I absolutely loved it.
I was surprised by the pacing of this read and how much story we get before the events mentioned in the description of the book. The description tells us that Manx will abduct Vic's son. But it takes half the book before Vic even has a son. The first half of the book is set up about Vic's history, family life, and the magic bridge as well as seeing how Manx operates. I'll admit that while I was in the middle of all this set up/backstory initial story I was a little worried this was all bloat and wouldn't come into play later. However, I'm pretty sure every little detail we learn about Vic and the other characters come back around directly during the second half of the read. As far as the pacing goes, this first half was a little slower but Hill does a fantastic job of slowly ramping up the pacing as the book goes on. The more we learn about Vic and Manx and their connection the more it starts to feel like they are two trains gaining speed as they hurtle toward each other. While the beginning of the read is slower paced, by the time we get to the last 25%, we are full speed and I didn't want to put the book down at all.
The lore and supernatural elements surrounding Manx and Vic's bridge were fantastic. Hill does a great job of having the reader discover the rules and limitations of these aspects as the characters learn about them. Every question or idea I had about the supernatural aspects of the story did eventually get answered or addressed which was fun. We don't always get a clear black and white answer to every question but I found that Hill would address those types of questions via the characters in a satisfying way. There were a few times where I thought I had a handle on the details but then something new would happen and it would introduce a new aspect that deepened the world building.
The characters in this are wonderfully developed and I got so attached to them while reading. it is always a plus when I cry while reading a horror/thriller read and this certainly fit that bill. I would say that if you are not a character-centered reader that this read may feel a bit slow, especially the first half. However, I loved the fact that we got to see these characters over decades of their lives and get to see the changes they go through. Hill does a great job with character development and they all felt very detailed and believably flawed.
Overall, this was a fantastic read that I'm so glad I finally got around to reading. I heard so many good things about this read and found them all to hold true. We have some fantastic character development and world building surrounding an absolutely expertly paced adventure. This is a long read, but 100% worth the ride in my opinion and I'm looking forward to reading more from Hill in the future.
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