I really liked this story. The side characters were a bit questionable, but I liked the main family, and I liked the best friend. I thought there was a good build up to the story, there was a lot of intrigue with the chase throughout the story, and the suspense of whether they'd find the mom. I'm a little sad about the loss of the one character (won't spoil), but I am very excited to read the next one, whenever that may come out.