The Counting Game by Sinead Nolan

 

The Kellough family is the talk of the village, which is a small Irish group people who live between the forest and the sea.  The father left the family and the mother tried  her best to raise the three children but she is fighting mental issues.  She went over the cliffs a few months ago and now the oldest child has left college and come home to try to raise her teenage sister and small brother.  There is an aunt but she is often away and is disabled and confined to a wheelchair.

One day Saoirse and Jack go to play in the forest.  It is one of their favorite places to play although the village says it's haunted.  Three girls from the village went missing there in recent years and none has ever been found.  Saoirse and Jack play the counting game where one hides and another tries to find them while counting.  Saoirse hides but when he tries to find her Jack can't.  But he thinks he sees the Creature who haunts the woods and he runs back home, scared out of his wits.  But Saoirse doesn't come home that night.

The police mount a task force to search the area to find Saoirse but the days go by and there's no sign of her  Jack who hadn't talked much since his mother died, now isn't talking at all.  The police bring in Freya Hemmings, who is a psychotherapist who works with small children to try to gain Jack's trust and see if he can help.  As the time mounts, Freya is starting to make progress with Jack but it is clear someone in the village wants her gone and is starting to target her.  Can she make a breakthrough with Jack and get Saoirse back home?

Sinead Nolan is an Irish author who started as a journalist and who is also a counselor.  She grew up in the same environment as the location of the book.  Readers will be caught up in the hunt for Saoirse and the slow unraveling of Jack's secrets.  He isn't the only one with secrets; everyone seems to have them.  The ending has a great twist and I'll definitely be watching for more of Nolan's work.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.