The Dollmaker by Amanda Stevens

I grabbed The Dollmaker off of my shelves after reading about it on Shelfari and my interest was raised. It also helped me out with my commitment to reading books off of my TBR bookcases. I was glad to read it, though the ending really disappointed me. Because of the ending, I rate this a B-.

From Amazon:
IN TERREBONNE PARISH, A TERRIBLE SECRET IS ABOUT TO BE UNCOVERED... BY A WOMAN WHOSE DAUGHTER VANISHED SEVEN YEARS AGO WITHOUT A TRACE... And now a new clue has surfaced...a doll that is the spitting image of Claire Doucett's missing child, right down to the tiny birth mark on the girl's left arm. A chance sighting of the eerily lifelike doll in a French Quarter collectibles shop leaves Claire shaken to her core...and more determined than ever to find out what happened to her beloved Ruby. When the doll is snatched and the store's owner turns up dead, Claire knows the only person who can help her is ex-husband Dave Creasy, a former cop who has spent the past seven years imprisoned by his own guilt and despair. He let Claire down once when she needed him the most. Can she make him believe the doll really exists? He'll have to if they're to survive an encounter with a brutal psychopath—The Dollmaker—who stole their future to feed an obsession that will never die.

This book had a really creepy premise and it was well developed. The reader learns about the identity of the psycho pretty early on, but it doesn't deter from the story much. Actually, it allows the reader to learn about his background and what has lead to his problems which I always enjoy. You almost feel sorry for the villian after reading about his past but it is sick what he becomes. I liked Claire and Dave both and felt that the characters were really well developed. However, I just felt that the ending was too rushed, almost like the author realized she was already 370 pages in and had to wrap it up real quick. It seems to me that more and more authors are doing this and I am not sure if it is just me wanting a real detailed explanation and conclusion or if it is becoming the trend. If I had probably 3 more pages I would have rated the book higher though. Just some loose strings that I felt had to be tied up.

So my computer got a nasty virus and I ended up losing everything on it. I am now still trying to remember all of my favorite blogs and I am most upset about losing my list of all of the books I have read in the past two years and all of the books I own. This is devasting and I am trying to not think about it because I get mad. Isn't it funny how much I valued that list of my books? I am just really glad that it didn't happen two months ago when I was getting ready to graduate. But yup, that's right... I lost everything I have done for school for the past two years. While I printed some of it, I lost a lot and I am upset. Oh well, what are you going to do?

Up next is Darker Than Night by John Lutz. I have had it on my shelves forever. I hope it goes quickly becasue my reading has slowed... a lot! This is a bigger book, with 541 pages, but hopefully it just flies by! Happy reading!