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| What Was Lost | 
 enlarge | Author: Catherine O'flynn
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Category: Book
List Price: £7.82
Buy Used: £3.85
You Save: £3.97 (51%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  70 reviews
Sales Rank: 258505
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0805088334
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9780805088335
ASIN: 0805088334
Publication Date: June 24, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Over 28,000 Feedbacks Posted!!! SHIPS FROM THE USA!! **EXPECTED DELIVERY 14-21 WORKING DAYS** Great Buy!!!*** Never Used*** Might Have a Publisher's Mark~We have over 2,500,000 Books Sold!!!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 65 more reviews...
 OK September 16, 2008
I picked this up in my local Tesco the other day, thought it looked intriguing but although it was nicely written it failed to excite me. I thought the early part about Kate and her detective agency was quite funny, and perceptive, the eyes of a child were well depicted, but when it moved into the present day I lost interest really. Skipped some of it to get to the end to find out what actually happened to Kate and Adrian, average book.
Beautifully written September 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Contrary to at least one other review, I find the character of Kate the pre-teen detective very convincing, wonderfully drawn, and like several other characters in this wonderfully written novel, achingly sad.
There is something of Joanne Harris in the spareness of the prose here, deceptively simple, clean, uncomplicated, but flowing.
The plot is perhaps thin in places, and certainly the conclusion is not entirely convincing, but it feels rather like an excuse to produce some of these fine characters. Like many an early novel, you suspect more than a hint of autobiography as well.
A lovely read.
 Booker List? You Gotta Be Kidding August 7, 2008
0 out of 9 found this review helpful
I see all the excellent novels passed over on both the long and short lists for the Booker, then along comes a derivative, self-important book like this and I admit I feel a bit aggrieved. A 10-year-old who starts a detective agency with a stuffed monkey but is her school's second smartest student? The character of Kate is so badly constructed that she's totally unbelievable. Her age level seems to vary between 4 and 40. As for the rest of the book, come on, some people actually like to shop, and work, at the mall. It's not Sartre's no exit, it's a shopping center. I'm so bored with immature writers scribbling as if any place that gives people the opportunity to buy things in multiple shops rather than the over-priced high street with its dusty goods (and in this book) spoiled meats is the 21st century version of hell. I skimmed the last 50% of this book, not being able to another entire page of the daily life of mall employees.
 A wonderful story July 30, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A delightfully complete read with an intriguing new angle on shopping evolution. Immediately you feel at home in Kate's company and enjoy her innocent way of looking at the world around her - it is such a funny book as well as being a mystery, a psychological thriller and a romantic story.
The idea of a shopping centre having something in common with vast old cathedrals and medieval buildings is a thoughtful touch. The thoughts that pass through the minds of the shoppers and other occupants of the building are utterly realistic.
The characters are all right on target, their regrets, fears and inhibitions all too understandable.
I loved it, read it in a day and hurried to lend it on. A fresh and friendly read with good human stories that linger in the mind afterwards. Everything falls into place.....
what was a great book July 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The first part of this book is absolutely brilliant, because we're following in the footsteps of would-be detective Kate Meaney and her sidekick stuffed monkey and both are charming, quirky, funny heroes and we really care about what happens to them. Then we jump forward 20 years, to the shopping mall which is the gloomy, ghostly, cavernous entity at the centre of the book. Bereaved security guard, Kurt, sees a small girl on the camera late at night, and he and his tentative new friend Lisa, set out to find the truth about the child. I actually liked both Kurt and Lisa, I thought they were rounded characters, but the book does drag in the middle. The suspense we feel the first time Kurt sees Kate on the camera just isn't sustained and there's no particular reason for the ghost to be there. The mystery of Kate's disappearance is solved, but nothing really changes.
There are also rather a lot of coincidences and people forget really important things and then remember them when its convenient to the plot.
I really, really enjoyed reading this book, but when I reached the end and thought about it, I felt a little let down. It's not a five-star read, but I would have given it four-and-a-half if I could!
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