Even Alfred Hitchcock Would Have Loved Sharon Sala’s ‘The Missing Piece’ [REVIEW]
February 17, 2022 Leave a comment
A prominent businessman vanishes. His company is on the verge of collapse. And there is only one man who can get at the truth. But will he be able to do so before someone silences him forever? Find out in Sharon Sala’s first novel in the Jigsaw Files, The Missing Piece.
Charlie Dodge is a private investigator who has made a career of saving missing people and threatened lives. But there’s one thing he can’t save, his wife’s fast fading memory, which she is losing to early onset Alzheimer’s. What he can focus his attention on, however, is the case of missing Denver multimillionaire Carter Dunleavy.
Along with his assistant, Wyrick, the duo discovers that Dunleavy has actually gone into hiding. Somebody close to Carter wants to end his life so they can watch his empire go down in flames. But Charlie is determined to prevent that from happening. But he must act fast to ensure Carter and his company survive!
I simply can’t say enough good things about The Missing Piece. It’s filled with quirky characters, gadgets galore, and plenty of psychological scars to make Sala’s characters, Wyrick and Charlie, seem like flesh-and-blood people we can relate to.
To be honest, I can totally see Steven Spielberg or J.J. Abrams writing a script to bring this story to life on the big screen. Now that would be an action-packed thrill ride to make Jason Bourne envious!
Action aside, however, what I enjoy most here is the interplay and camaraderie between Charlie and his very efficient office manager, Wyrick. Both have suffered loss, but they won’t allow their circumstances to define who they are. While they have unmistakable chemistry, their communication skills need work. But their banter, paired with Sala’s irresistible suspense and masterful plotting, make The Missing Piece a compelling whodunit with true Hitchcockian flair.
I enjoyed this novel so much, I hated to see it end. Thank goodness there are already three more books in the series so I can keep reading! I know you’ll love it too. Sala always delivers a good story, but with The Missing Piece, she has truly outdone herself.
Sharon Sala is a longtime member of RWA, as well as a member of OKRWA. She has 112 books and novellas in print, published in five different genres—romance, young adult, Western, fiction, and women’s fiction.
First published in 1991, she’s an eight-time RITA® Award finalist, winner of the Janet Dailey Award, five-time Career Achievement Award winner from RT Book Reviews magazine, five-time winner of the National Readers’ Choice Award, five-time winner of the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, winner of the Heart of Excellence Award, as well as a winner of the Booksellers’ Best Award. In 2011 she was named RWA’s recipient of the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award.
Her books are New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestsellers. She also writes under the pen name Dinah McCall. To find out more, visit her at SharonSala.net, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.
(Photo by Joel Jordon Photography)
THE MISSING PIECE
By Sharon Sala
384 pp. Mira. $7.99
Purchase The Missing Piece direct from Jathan & Heather Books or at one of these fine online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Half Price Books, Harlequin, Hudson Booksellers, IndieBound, Powell’s, or Walmart.
About Heather Fink
Jathan & Heather 