The Finder by Kate Hendrick

Text, 2018. ISBN 9781925603811
(Age: Adolescent) Highly recommended. This is a stunning new book that draws the audience into the world of a young woman who is determined to follow her dream as a 'finder', someone who will do the research that is needed to locate those who have become 'lost'. As a child, she lost her sister - who simply disappeared on a picnic, and, as an adolescent girl who cannot forget her sister, she cannot forgive herself, and cannot live with the guilt that she feels as a daily penance. Her parents have resorted to a rigidly organized structure for their large family, overseeing the progress of their children at school, ruling all of their lives through an unbreakable strict routine for eating, homework, activities and chores around the house that might seem to blank out their loss, but is clearly only distracting on the surface.
Having found a young runaway and been rewarded by the immense gratitude of the family, Lindsay has decided that it is a matter of close attention to her variety of sources of information, via internet sources, and particularly public posts, considering what she would do if she were to 'disappear', and following up on her hunches that have brought her the reward of becoming a 'finder' of some notability in the city. We are drawn into her world, and when she disappears to reside in an empty house - found through careful observation - she devotes her attention to her next challenge. When Elias, an extrovert, a wild dresser who is realizing that he is attracted to boys, asks for Lindsay's help to find his birth mother, she is ready to work with him, and finds him an unexpected good friend.
Written in a captivating style, Hendrick's narrative demands our attention! We are positioned to see the the world through Lindsay's eyes, and it is indeed an insightful depiction of today's world - of the pressures on adolescents, and of the interactions with their peers, and of modern family life. Highly recommended reading.
Elizabeth Bondar