Collect The Dollmaker Generated By Amanda Stevens Distributed As E-Text

a little bit long to me, Reminded me of The Uncanny Valley Criminal Minds episode, which came out after the book, Personally, I enjoyed The Graveyard Queen series more, Enjoyed the descriptions though, easy to see it in my mind, THE DOLLMAKER. Yep, it was as creepy as the cover, This book came out a few years before The Graveyard Queen series by Amanda Stevens, and I loved it, She knows how to create troubled and tragic characters who draw readers into their stories, and Dave and Claire ugh, their story was heartwrenching! Their daughter disappeared without a trace seven years earlier, their marriage fell apart, and Dave turned to alcohol.
Then suddenly, Claire comes across a mysterious doll in a shop window that looks just like their missing daughter, down to the birthmark on her arm.
Coincidence

THE DOLLMAKER was an exciting and emotional novel of suspense, set in one of my favorite locations, New Orleans.
It was interesting how the author talked about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath on the city, There were many layers to this story, not only the doll, but also the reemergence of a cold case Dave had first investigated at the time of his daughters disappearance.
There was also a diverse cast of notable secondary characters, some good, some bad, but which was which

Final Thoughts: If you enjoy pageturning, creepy suspense with just the barest hint of romance, Id highly recommend THE DOLLMAKER.


Rating:½ Stars/

okay look, i was extremely disappointed by this, and that says something since i didn't think it was going to be like a new favourite, but rather something like the usual in the middle enjoyable enough but not fantastic mystery/thriller book.
i liked it well enough at first, quite a long way in to be honest, but the ending was wayyyyy too short and rushed for my taste.
it didn't feel like an ending at all,

also, it doesn't really sit right with me to use an intersex character in the way that this book did.
while i can somehow see the appeal of it, the way it was used in this book especially considering the extremely quick ending wasn't really my favourite thing.
please send me a message if i've got the wrong idea though!! I'd never heard of this author before, so when I had some of her Graveyard Queen series picked for a challenge for me, I decided I'd sit down with one of her standalones first to see if I liked her writing style, but unfortunately, my hunch was correct, and I didn't care for her at all.


This book was extremely boring! The plot really dragged and felt like it was being drug out for length.
I couldn't care about the characters and found Claire the heroine to be a whiny get, Yes, you had a kid abducted, but you had to be a heck of a lot stronger than this woman seemed! She came off as a delicate flower, rather than a mama that would stop at nothing to know what happened to her child! Dave gave off the selfabsorbed ahole vibe, rather that a hardened cop that would bust butt to discover why tragedy had struck his family.


The creepy factor was the only thing that saved this from me DNFing it or astar rating.
I rather enjoyed the serial killer angle and could see glimmers of what others really enjoy this author for in it.
Sadly, it's not enough to save the author for me and I doubt I'll be reading her again, It didnt live up to how creepy I thought it would be, . . but it passed an airplane ride, This book was ok. The story line was decent, I hated the ending and

i felt there were to many unnecessary characters, Almost two different story lines going on that did not really relate to each other, Soat the most,.out ofstars

ISBN:and ISBN:
Publish date: March,
Mass market paperbackpages,
Fiction, Suspense

The Dollmaker is satisfyingly creepy,

The cover of The Dollmaker was what first drew me, its shadowy blue and green tones, and the dolls face, particularly the eye.
I found it mesmerizing and was drawn to it many times before I bought it, And when I did, I wasnt disappointed, Its a story about tragic lossthe abduction of a child and the resulting destruction of a marriage,

Claire Doucetts life spins out of control from the moment she glimpses a doll that looks exactly like her missing daughter Ruby, right down to an identical birthmark on the dolls arm.
To complicate matters, no one believes her and the doll mysteriously disappears,

Then Claires exhusband Dave, a former cop and alcoholic who is investigating the murder of a stripper, comes back to town.
Hes looking for answers in the strippers death, but also searching for resolution in a cold caseone that has haunted him because it is linked to his daughters disappearance.


The plot lines are woven meticulously, connecting then separating, making for a very interesting read, The New Orleans setting is perfect especially with the Katrina references and haunting visuals, the characters are compelling and flawed, and the pacing is dead on, until the end where I felt that the resolution was a bit rushed.
Everything happened so fast, I lost a bit of the emotional connection, which is why I didnt give this bookstars.


Regardless, Amanda Stevens has penned a spinetingling story about love, loss, lies, guilt and family secrets, This is a great read for that cold winter night, I highly recommend it! And Ill never look at a doll the same way again,

Bestselling author Cheryl Kaye Tardif, sitelink cherylktardif. com

I had tried starting this book a couple different times over the years, and never really got very far.
This year, it was selected for my "Books to Read" list for the year, So I tried it again. I did finish the book this time, but I was not enthusiastic about it, It had multiple pointsofview, and sometimes it was narrated by the sister of the main female character, and I don't really understand why.
I can understand switching between the mother and father of the missing girl, but I don't get why there needed to be other narrators thrown in there.
I feel like there was a lot of story line that didn't necessarily need to be there, it was just extraneous information that had no real bearing to the actual story.
The characters were alright, there was enough development to have a feel for them, and there were redeeming qualities in them.
But I wasn't really rooting for anyone, or really invested in them finding their daughter or who took her, The ending needed about anotherpages to tie everything together, I was thoroughly underwhelmed when I got to the last page, and still had questions about plot lines that didn't really have an end.


All in all, I'd say skip this book, It didn't grip me like a mystery should, and I didn't really care who did it, why, or what happened to their daughter.
I really pretty much just went through the motions reading this, I wasn't really interested or invested in it, Big fan of this Author's Graveyard Queen series, This book was totally not my cup of tea, I had to force myself to finish it, I thought it was draggy, I didn't like any of the characters, it had dead little children and the most action happened in the lastpages then it just ended.
With hardly any resolutions. Can't recommend this book but try the author's others, WOW! I normally can predict a story a few chapters in but The Doll maker caught me completely by surprise! Awesome characters, brilliantly creepy! Another great read.
Wow, really fantastic book! Loved the plot and the characters, and wow, the mysteries were so great to read! Such a great read! I picked this book up on a recommendation, and I wasn't dissapointed.
For what is Amanda Stevens's debut novel, this book was incredibly fast paced amp hardly ever dropped a beat, I really liked how she made even the villains into complex amp for some of them even sometimes sympathetic characters.


My only complaint is that the ending felt incredibly rushed in comparison to the rest of the The Dollmaker's pace.
There was a lot that was left out amp there was more than one question that was left unanswered, There was one specific plot element that was all but screamed out loud, yet the author did nothing with it.
It just seemed a little unrealistic for such a thing to be, yet for that particular character to do nothing with it.
Other than that, the book was fantastic, The ending is such a minor flaw in comparison to the rest of the book that you really don't mind.
This book has "future blockbuster movie" written all over it, Why are all dolls so damn creepy

The plot, Claire Doucett's daughter, Ruby, vanished without a trace several years ago and her disappearance has haunted Claire ever since.
When she spots a doll in a store window that's the spitting image of Ruby, right down to her birthmark, Claire becomes obsessed with finding the maker of the doll.


The characters, Despite me liking Claire well enough she was probably my least favorite character, I found myself liking Dave's overall character development a lot more and actually wanted more chapters from his POV, The scene stealer however was The Dollmaker, It's always fascinating to get a glimpse into the mind of such a twisted and downright insane person,

The writing, I ended up racing through this book once I started reading it again, I had forgotten how suspenseful it was, The action starts right from the very beginning of the book and doesn't let up until the end,

The negative, The ending of the book could have used a couple more chapters or even an epilogue because it felt very rushed.
There was a lot going on in the final chapters and it felt like some important details were left out which resulted in some plot points feeling incomplete.


The special, I haven't read a Dutch book in what must have been several years now and it's only because of the online reading of Claire HightonStevenson's The Doll Maker that I remembered this being tucked away on one of my bookshelves.


The verdict, What a trip down memory lane this book was, Overall rating is a,Also maybe don't look too closely at that cover if dolls creep you out,

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