The Year of Fog

Book 12 of my 2018 Reading Challenge

The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond

Summary (via Goodreads)
Six-year-old Emma vanished into the thick San Francisco fog. Or into the heaving Pacific. Or somewhere just beyond: to a parking lot, a stranger's van, or a road with traffic flashing by. Devastated by guilt, haunted by her fears about becoming a stepmother, Abby refuses to believe Emma is dead. And so she searches for clues about what happened that morning - and cannot stop the flood of memories reaching from her own childhood to illuminate that irreversible moment on the beach. 
Now, as the days drag into weeks, as the police lose interest and fliers fade on telephone poles, Emma's father finds solace in religion and scientific probability - but Abby can only wander the beaches and city streets, attempting to recover the past and the little girl she lost. With her life at a crossroads, she will leave San Francisco for a country thousands of miles away. And there, by the side of another sea, on a journey that has led her to another man and into a strange subculture of wanderers and surfers, Abby will make the most astounding discovery of all - as the truth of Emma's disappearance unravels with stunning force. 

My Opinion
This is not an "I'll just read a little bit before bed" kind of book because the story and the chapters only being 2-3 pages long worked together so I read much more at a time than I intended.

It was very realistic as the relationship between Abby and her fiancé (Emma's father) became strained because of the guilt/blame they felt since it happened under her watch.   It was suspenseful but not like a typical mystery because even as I went along with Abby on her journey of "whodunnit", I still had to keep it in the back of my mind that Emma could've drowned and nothing nefarious happened.  Death would be tragic and horrible but I think not knowing is the worst outcome of a disappearance because you would never be able to find closure.  Whether or not closure is found in this book is part of the ride so I won't give that away.

A Few Quotes from the Book
"There is a girl, her name is Emma, she is walking on the beach. I look away. Seconds pass. I look back, and she is gone. I keep thinking about the seconds, the ever-expanding circle. How I set this chain of events in motion. How I must find some way to make amends."

"Memory is the price we pay for our individual personalities, for the privilege or knowing our own intimate selves; it is the price we pay for both our victories and defeats."