Review: Who Took Eden Mulligan?

Who Took Eden Mulligan? by Sharon Dempsey
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I wanted to like this book, and I tried to like this book, but I just didn't. And I was disappointed.
The story opens with a young woman, covered in blood, confessing to the murders of at least 3 other people. When the police go to investigate the cottage where the crime was committed, they find a reference to a missing persons case from decades ago. What happened, why did this young woman confess, and what does this all have to do with the long-ago disappearance of Eden Mulligan?
I think the problem for me was that I wanted to have all of these questions answered and the author was too busy dredging up back-story on the two main characters, Rose and Danny. Backstory should be revealed in an organic way, and not told to the reader in a surface-level repetitive manner. I got bored and frustrated, waiting for Rose, Danny, and the rest of the investigators to start INVESTIGATING the crime instead of sitting around thinking about things that happened at university or in their childhoods or in their past investigations. Rose didn't like her mother--we get it. Danny messed up when investigating his last case--we get it. Both Danny and Rose have unresolved feelings toward each other--we get it. I really wanted them to stop ruminating over things in their heads and thinking about what they should or should not do/have done and DO SOME POLICE WORK.
I don't think I would recommend this book. It had creepy, gritty potential, but then got lost somewhere in a misguided attempt at fleshing out the main characters. Constantly being told about the characters instead of being shown just made me bored.

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