ARC Review: Wherever She Goes by Kelley Armstrong

Wherever She Goes
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publication: Minotaur Books (June 25, 2019)

Description: From New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a brand new psychological thriller about the lengths one woman will go to in order to save a child.

“Few crimes are reported as quickly as a snatched kid.”

That’s what the officer tells single mother Aubrey Finch after she reports a kidnapping. So why hasn’t anyone reported the little boy missing? Aubrey knows what she saw: a boy being taken against his will from the park. It doesn’t matter that the mother can’t be found. It doesn’t matter if no one reported it. Aubrey knows he’s missing.

Instead, people question her sanity. Aubrey hears the whispers. She’s a former stay-at-home mom who doesn’t have primary custody of her daughter, so there must be something wrong with her, right? Others may not understand her decision to walk away from her safe life at home, but years of hiding her past – even from the people she loves – were taking their toll, and Aubrey knows she can’t be the mother or wife she envisions until she learns to leave her secrets behind.

When the police refuse to believe her, she realizes that rescuing the boy is up to her alone. But after all the secrets, how far is she willing to go? Even to protect a child.

My Thoughts: WHEREVER SHE GOES was a fast-paced, tension-filled, twisty thriller. Aubrey Finch didn't think much about talking to a young mother and son when she is playing in the park with her daughter. But when she sees the boy again a few days later and sees him being dragged into a car, she knows she has to do something. The only problem is that no one has reported a child abduction and the police don't believe that Aubrey saw what she saw.

It is time for Aubrey to dust off her computer hacking skills and look into the case herself. Aubrey has a past that she is keeping from her husband Paul. She lost her mother in a car accident when she was two, her military father committed suicide when she was eighteen which caused her to drop out of MIT where she was in a computer technology program. She went astray and joined a gang of thieves who broke into empty houses and robbed them. After being shot by a homeowner, she chose to leave and reinvent herself. When she met Defense Attorney Paul, she didn't share any of her past secrets.

Paul and Aubrey's marriage is faltering and she feels guilty both for keeping her secrets and for what she sees as her lack of skills as a mother. Paul and Aubrey are separated and main custody of their three-year-old daughter Charlotte is with Paul. She empathizes with the young mother whose son has been taken and is even more concerned when she learns that the mother has been murdered.

As Aubrey tries to find the young boy, she discovers more and more about the young mother's past and her connection to the Russian mafia and finds herself in more and more danger. And the danger seems to be following her home to her husband and daughter.

This was nicely twisty with a bunch of possible villains. While I thought that Aubrey seemed a little lacking in self-confidence and a little too accommodating of her husband's perceived needs, I still found her an interesting character that I was pulling for and wanting to know more about. 

Favorite Quote:

No one helped my mother. No one helped my father. No one wanted to get involved. I cannot be that person. Ever. If there is any chance that a boy is out there, in trouble, and no one is searching for him, then I must be that one person. The person who cares. The person who gets involved.

Whatever the cost.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.