Garden of the Lost by D.J. Donaldson
Publisher: Dingbat Publishing
Genre: Suspense/Mystery, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (241 pages)
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Is Conrad Green alive? The answer seems obvious. He moves, he breathes, he occasionally takes food. But inside, he’s dead, unable to write a word on his next novel, barely able to take care of himself, ruled by despair over the sudden death of his beautiful wife, Claire, six months ago. Since that dreadful day, he’s done only one significant thing. Feeling strangely drawn into a salvage yard, he discovers and buys an antique wrought iron fence that he installs around Claire’s beloved iris garden.

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Sometimes the past can’t help but to bleed into the present.

Conrad was such an interesting protagonist. His profession as a writer meant he was quite used to doing research and following every rabbit trail he found. These strengths of his came in pretty handy as he attempted to find out what happened to the child who appeared in his garden. What endeared me to him even more, though, was how his weaknesses also affected his investigation. For example, he could be stubborn at times and occasionally had trouble recognizing when he should ask others for help. While I can’t go into any more detail than that without wandering into spoiler territory, I was pleased with how much effort the author put into creating such a three-dimensional and sympathetic protagonist. He was a wonderful character to get to know.

Not only was Conrad well-developed, the supporting characters were as well. I especially enjoyed meeting his elderly neighbor, Ann. She was a warm, kind person who was far more complex than she might have appeared to be at first glance. I enjoyed getting to know her on a deeper level as her friendship with Conrad grew and she began revealing things to him about her past that she didn’t seem to want to discuss with most other folks.

The mystery of what happened to the little ghost boy was nicely written. There were exactly enough clues about his life and death for me to have something to think about as I kept reading. I also liked the way the storyline gradually introduced new details about this child that made me look at the previous hints about him in an entirely new light.

Exploring the small town setting was also a treat. Figuring out the politics of living in this sort of place can be tricky, especially for city folks like the main character who have no idea just how interconnected everyone is when most folks are born, live, and die in the same community. The author captured the both the upsides and the downsides of living in an insulated place like this perfectly.

Garden of the Lost was hauntingly beautiful. I highly recommend it!