February 29, 2012 / Leslie

Review: Come and Find Me by Hallie Ephron

Come and Find Me
by Hallie Ephron

Genre: Mystery
Publisher: William Morrow
Publish Date: February 28, 2012
Format: Paperback | 304 pages
Rating: 4 of 5

Diana Highsmith is prone to panic attacks and hasn’t left her house in over a year. She wasn’t always this way. After Daniel died falling to his death while they were mountain climbing in Switzerland, her life fell apart. Fearful of everyone except her mother and her sister, Ashley, she has fortified her house with the best alarms and monitoring system available.

Diana, a reformed computer hacker, now works from home running a high-tech internet security company with Daniel’s best friend, Jake. Using state of the art software they can meet with clients online through virtual technologies and internet conferencing. Most of her life now takes place in the virtual world know as OtherWorld where she meets friends and clients. There she is known as Nadia, and hides behind the safety and anonymity of an avatar, trusting only two online friends that she knows solely by their screen names.

When Ashley disappears and Diana can’t find her for days she is forced to face her fears and venture out of her self-imposed comfort zone. She needs to go to Ashley’s apartment, she needs to go to the police and report her missing, and she needs to leave her house to do these things. One step at a time Diana begins her journey back to the outside world. As she ventures out of her cocoon she finds that things are not as they appear to be.

The story is told from Diana’s perspective and she is the most developed character in the story. We don’t learn as much as I would have liked about some of the other characters. Although I often got frustrated with Diana, I liked her and I could relate to her and her alter ego, Nadia. My internet days go back to the time of bulletin boards and discussion forums where creating an online identity separate from the real world was common. It’s not unusual to meet people online and become ‘friends’, as Nadia does, and never know their real names. What’s not normal is to only live in the online world and through Diana we experience the fear of her panic attacks as she begins to regain her strength and ability to function in the real world.

Once Diana leaves her house and begins to conquer her fears the suspense picks up. About half way through I began to suspect what was really going on. As a former hacker and computer expert Diana should have been able to spot a few things (I won’t mention spoilers) that slipped past her for too long. Only after she leaves the house does she begin to see these things.

I love fiction that incorporates the virtual world, technology, computers and science. The book does use some techy terminology which I found realistic and an enhancement to the story but it is not essential to be familiar with these terms to follow the plot. Low tech readers should not be scared off, they will still enjoy the mystery and suspense and most of the shorthand and tech speak can be inferred from the context.

Overall, a well-written tale and an enjoyable story that will keep you reading late into the night.

About Hallie Ephron

An award-winning mystery reviewer, Hallie Ephron is the author of Never Tell a Lie (a Mary Higgins Clark Award finalist that was also made into the Lifetime Movie Network film And Baby Will Fall) and the Edgar- and Anthony Award-nominated Writing and Selling Your Mystery. Ephron lives near Boston.