The Inquirer by Jaclyn Dawn (Review by Amanda Gavigan)

Rating: 4/5*

The Inquirer, a debut novel for Jaclyn Dawn begins slowly but quickly turns into a page turner. Dawn begins with descriptive context and sets the background of our heroine Amiah, also known as Miah. Immediately we see Miah’s animosity and hesitation in returning to Kingsley without understanding the real reason behind it or the reason for distance between her and her parents.

As Miah returns to Kingsley and the family farm to help out her injured father, she is shown the mysterious gossip tabloid ‘The Inquirer’ which yields stories only about their small town. No one knows who writes the articles or where it comes from only that it appears weekly, and is a must read. Soon after Miah returns and begins to reacquaint herself with old friends, flames, and acquaintances she becomes part of the headlines herself.

As more of the relationships and past histories are revealed, the reader begins to sympathize with Miah as she becomes a headline again. Dawn then hooks the reader in with a huge surprise making the book a page turner. As the story continues on, Dawn continues to unravel the complexities of Miah’s relationships within Kingsley and readers begin to understand, as well as empathize with the hesitation Miah felt upon returning.

The Inquirer becomes a focal part of the book as the creators are threatened to be exposed, and we see the damage a tabloid can produce within a small town and the relationships within. Will the creator be exposed by the end of the book? Only continuing the book to the end will tell. Dawn wraps up the book satisfactorily and finds resolutions for most if not all of Miah’s relationships by the ending.

As this is Dawn’s first book, her creativity is evident as the story and the complexities of the characters is introduced. Dawn’s writing style has the reader wanting more, even as the story concludes. She writes descriptive passages that has the reader imagining what this small town looks like, and paints an accurate picture of what small town living is truly like.