Reviewed by Marisa O’Neill
Publisher St. Martin’s Press
4 Stars

Youngstown Maine is a small costal town where everyone knows everyone and children are being taught by the same teachers that taught their parents.  You can almost see Opey and Andy fishing down by the watering hole.  Except it’s the middle of a freak snowstorm and one girl is dead and another is missing.  I guess Andy took a vacation.

Of course while Andy’s out of town we have a new guest visiting. Well not really visiting, she’s investigating. And no, she’s not with the FBI. Sarah Newton is an investigative reporter. But she’s not just any investigative reporter she’s a reporter that ‘debunks supernatural myths’. It seems that the people of Youngstown believe they are under a curse and that the murder and mayhem that is being perpetrated upon this lovely, safe, God-fearing town, is because there is a curse on them. It has to be a curse; otherwise the unthinkable is true. Someone they know is murdering their teenage daughters.

Sarah is famous for her tenacity and for finding the truth, so of course her appearance in town is not a welcomed one. People are on edge and she’s an outsider. An outsider with an agenda.  Sarah is a New York City girl through and through and with her black pants, black coat, black converse sneakers and a take no prisoners attitude, she’s ready to find out what’s really going on in Youngstown.  The fact that the townspeople hate her, that she’s attracted to the man who is her chaperone, its colder than the North Pole and snowing in March, that she’s off her meds, haunted by bad dreams and her therapist is calling her six times a day does not deter this quirky, determined, fearless, petite blond. She’s got attitude and with good reason. Her back story is a doozy and motivates her to find the truth no matter what.  I’m not kidding about her back story – I didn’t see it coming.  No wonder she has nightmares.
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FIND ME has no lack of suspects. Miss Webb creates plenty of those. It’s a small town with lots of secrets. This book made me ask myself -what kind of secrets do I have? Perhaps even secrets I didn’t even know I had.  You know the kind of secrets where you might ask yourself, what would happen if some alien came down and abducted me? (I like that scenario better than being hit by a bus) Anyway. If you were abducted and your family had to go to your home and sort out your belongings, what would they find?  Are there some old diaries lying around that were for your eyes only? Perhaps some paraphernalia you didn’t want discovered.  Or some letters that you should have burned. Maybe you just have underwear on your floor or a sink filled with dirty dishes –let’s face it, there are some things not meant for public consumption.  Now let’s ratchet up the stakes. Youngstown has become a a place where smiles for strangers are few and far between, where the curtains at the windows flutter closed as you pass, where young girls are being murdered and tortured and everyone is a suspect.   This has got to mean some one is getting ‘voted off the island’ for not playing well with others.

FIND ME is chock full of characters that are strongly written, you can almost hear them speak.

There’s Kale. He’s the chaperone I mentioned earlier. He’s not a suspect but rather our hero. It’s his unlucky responsibility to keep Sarah out of trouble while she’s investigating.  He has his own baggage that weighs him down. But he makes a very nice counterpoint to the feisty, self-assured, doubt ridden, cocky Sarah.  Sarah runs rings around him and their relationship sizzles – burns fast and hot.

Oh, and then there is the FBI profiler who is Sarah’s ex-boyfriend who did her wrong – serious wrong.  Personally, I found him to be a dirt bag hiding behind the polish and veneer of his black coat and shinny badge.

Oh, and then there is the Reverend and his ailing wife.

Oh, what about the inn-keeper?

Oh, then there’s the richest man in town.

Oh, how could I forget the sheriff? Not Andy, remember, he’s out of town.

Oh, the young witch who lives on the edge of town.

And what about those crows in the cemetery?

Yes, it just keeps getting better and better.

FIND ME is Debra Webb’s newest suspense, and I’ll tell you, it was suspenseful. I had
no idea who did it until the very end.  She has some very smart characterization, clear clean dialogue and vivid images. You can feel the cold, hear the water lapping against the shore line and feel Sarah’s hunger to find the truth.  With each suspect she introduces, you’re ready to say “Oh yeah they did it”. But the very next chapter you begin to doubt yourself. It had me going until the end. And even then, at the very end, Miss Webb twists the knife just a little deeper.