I am a huge Carter Wilson fan. The first book I found was The Dead Girl in 2A. I was so impressed that I immediately went and started reading his backlist, and I’ve been reading every new book as they are published.

The Father She Went to Find was amazing. Penny is a savant. She has a photographic memory and is amazingly intelligent, the result of a fall down the stairs when she was a young child. Now, at 21, she’s aware that she didn’t fall down the stairs, she was pushed. After the accident, her father disappeared from her life, but sends her a card once a year for her birthday. But she does talk to her dad, in her mind. And he answers.

At 21 her birthday card indicates this will be the last card he’s going to send and this prompts Penny to leave her home at the special school she’s been attending since her accident. She sets out to find her dad, and finds a couple of “characters“ along the way. The twists and turns that the story takes totally surprised me and I expected none of them.

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for this galley. All opinions are my own.

Wow, this book was incredible! Penny is such a fantastic character. At seven years old, she fell down the stairs and ended up in a coma. When she awoke, she discovered that her father left while she was in the coma and also that she now has acquired savant syndrome. She sees numbers as colors, has an eidetic memory and can draw photorealistic drawings in minutes. After that she lives a sheltered life mostly at an institute for the brain. Fourteen years later, on her twenty first birthday, she leaves to try and track down her father. Her first journey into the world certainly takes an unexpected path! She meets some interesting characters and gets into quite a bit of danger along the way. There's some nice twists and turns and a shocking, emotional ending that is utterly unpredictable. I think The Father She Went To Find is going to be a big hit. It's definitely my favorite Carter Wilson novel so far. You won't want to miss this one when it comes out on April 2, 2024!

Also, I love that it took place during the 80s! Things were so much different before cell phones and the internet so it added an extra level of difficulty to her journey.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC!

Oh my! This book is a whirlwind of eccentric and wonderful plot lines and characters! It centers around Penny as she awakens from a coma after a fall down the basement stairs when she was seven. Now she has an eidetic memory and an incredible memory for faces; she sees colors for numbers and can recall pages of written material easily. She conjures her father in her head and has "conversations" with him, especially remembering a road trip where he left messages for her in hidden coke bottles. Newly awakened she has a "treasure map" and is determined to retrace those steps and find him. And of course there are great characters--mostly misfits, loan sharks, shootings, a crooked cop, and so many odd and wonderful happenings! Like all of Wilson's books, this one keeps you on the edge of your seat and never lets you go! Gritty and fabulous!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!