Tristan's Gap Book

I haven't read a lot of Christian fiction in the past - with the exception of my slight obsession with Amish novels - but I'd definitely consider getting hold of more of it after this book. Sixteen-year-old Tristan vanishes into thin air, much to the shock of her family. Everyone assumes that she must have been kidnapped, because surely such a happy "good girl" with a loving family wouldn't leave of her own accord...would she? But all is not as it seems. As the search for their daughter progresses, Serena begins to realise that by overprotecting their daughter they've pushed her so far away from them that they don't even know who she is anymore. While her husband refuses to admit that their daughter would willingly want to leave home, Serena is forced to admit that blindly following her husband's rules and advice will not bring their daughter home, and that this may have forced her to leave in the first place. Serena has to take matters into her own hands as she searches for her teenage daughter, and trust that God can help to bridge the gap between them.
While I was initially unsympathetic towards the character of Serena, a woman who believed that her family was "perfect" and that by wrapping her children in cotton wool she could protect them from the "evils" of the world, like single-mothers who wore excessive amounts of jewellery and had tattoos, I came to like her more as she grew and changed throughout the novel. Serena is not too proud to admit that she has made mistakes in her past and humbles herself so that she can bring her daughter home. She is surrounded by a host of wonderful secondary characters - the quirky but well-meaning Aunt Pete, her youngest daughter Max and an unlikely friend, Hazel, she of the tattoos and bangles. The one character that I couldn't stand was Serena's husband, Nick. Just reading about his arrogance made me want to throw something! I know that Nick was vital to the story but I could not fathom why Serena had married such a man or stayed under his thumb for so long. I also found it difficult to believe that his actions were based upon his desire to please God. While God and Christianity didn't actually feature a huge amount in this book, the message seemed to be that God is always with us, even though the bad times, and that God's grace is always there, no matter what we do. While, to me at least, this isn't a new and radical idea it appears that this is something people need to hear.
While I found it hard to emphasise with some of the characters - at least for part of this book - this was incredibly hard to put down. The search for Tristan should compel many to read on, and although the ending isn't tied nicely in a big, red bow, seeing Serena's character mature and change is very satisfying. 9/10