Finding Mr Flood by Ciara Geraghty
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
Release Date: 13th October 2011
Rating: 3.5/5
Source: Received from the publishers
Amazon Summary:

Dara Flood always says the most interesting thing about her life happened before she was born. Thirteen days before she came into the world, her father walked up the road and never came back.

Now in her twenties, Dara’s life has a careful routine. She lives in Dublin with her mother and sister Angel. She has pizza with friends every Wednesday, salsa class every Friday, and sees her boyfriend every Saturday. It’s safe and that’s the way she likes it.

Then Angel gets desperately sick and Dara’s ordered life falls apart. Neither she nor her mother is a compatible match for the kidney Angel needs. So Dara sets out to find the father who could be their last hope. But on the path to uncovering the truth about her father, Dara learns that to let life - and love - in, sometimes you just have to let go . . .

This is the third Ciara Geraghty book I’ve read, and after loving her first book and being a bit so-so about the last of hers that I read, I was wondering where this would lie on my radar compared to her previous novels. I really like the cover I have to say, it’s plain and simple yet the purple and cream work really nicely together to create a pretty nice look for the book. At over 500 pages, it isn’t a short read and I have to say one of my bugbears about this book was that I felt it was too long. There were good characters, a really good plot line that kept me involved but I just felt it was at least 100 pages too long, and certain scenes just felt too long windeed for me. However, I do have to say overall it was a good read, and here’s why!

The book is about Dara Flood, and her sister Angel. Angel is very sick, and has nobody around to help her get better as neither Dara or her mother are a match for the kidney Angel so desperately needs. Therefore, Dara decides to seek out the father who left them all when Mrs Flood was heavily pregnant with Dara. They don’t know anything about the elusive Mr Flood, so hire Stanley, a private detective to help hunt him down. The book really focuses on Dara, and although it’s written in the third person, the book almost entirely follows her, except for the odd scenes with Stanley and his personal life. Dara was likeable enough for a main character, although I did find her relationship with “boyfriend” Ian Harte a bit strange and awkward to be honest. However, her dedication and love for her sister was wonderful to read, and Geraghty has really captured a fantastic sisterly relationship in this book, and its nice to see how far Dara is prepared is to go for her sick sister.

Stanley is a bit of a character, that’s for sure. He is a private detective by trade, but I have to say doesn’t seem to be great at it. That being said, he is a lovely character and although I could sort of see how things would pan out for him around halfway through the book, it didn’t matter because I really liked him and thought he was a nice male addition to the cast of the book, and worked really well in his scenes with Dara especially. His own personal story was a little sad, and adds to the overall maudlin tone of the book, but I was hoping Stanley would finally stand up for himself! I have to mention Sissy, Stanley’s flatmate who is just brilliant, and I absolutely love the phrase “dinner-ding” because of her! She’s a bit of much needed comic relief and was a great inclusion to the book.

The story was quite sad in parts, because of course we don’t know if Angel is going to make it or not, and it’s hard to read the pain that the three Flood women are going through when looking for a kidney for Angel. As a mum, it’s your worst nightmare for something like this for your child so I felt really sorry for poor Mrs Flood. Due to the nature of the story, it’s quite a sad book, there are a few lighter moments but it isn’t an overly happy read and combine that with the length of the book, you can get a bit bogged down in it at times, I did feel like I needed a break from it occasionally. That being said, it was well written and Geraghty had definitely done her research across the topic of end stage renal failure, and also the heartache and pain in finding a missing member of your family. I did enjoy this one, there were just a few things that let it down for me. Definitely one to persevere with and read over a few days.

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