The Dollmaker is a chilling, suspenseful thriller tinged with elements of the downright creepy. A mother who suffered the kidnapping of her child seven years ago spots a beautiful doll in a shop window - a doll that looks exactly like her lost little girl, Ruby. But for Claire Doucett, trying to put the pieces of a tragic mystery together is made more difficult when no one will believe her, not even her ex-husband, Dave, a former cop whose own life went to hell when his child vanished into thin air.
Claire is determined to make Dave believe that the doll is a vital clue to the whereabouts of Ruby. As the two delve deeper into the mystery, they discover that a brutal psychopath is in their midst, one who creates dolls in the images of the little girls he is obsessed with.
This intriguing book has elements of Silence of the Lambs and John Saul’s myriad child-in-danger books, skillfully weaving great mood and atmosphere (the setting is post-Katrina New Orleans) with solid dialogue and suspense that never fails to build. It’s nice to also actually care about the tragic characters involved in this story of love and loss.
The Dollmaker will have you turning pages in a frenzy as the story builds to its climactic ending, satisfying at every twist and turn.