A Review of E.L. Irwin's Lost and Found by Jeff Bailey

Disclaimer: My website host is upgrading their host interface. Please, bear with me as I upgrade my sites.

I just finished reading Lost and Found, E.L. Irwin’s second novel. For me, the story and characters had an intriguing aura of realism and truth. Erwin didn’t just guide her readers through the story she seemed to immerse them into the story. I find that the best writing comes from life’s experiences or from a unique knowledge of a subject. In Lost and Found, Irwin demonstrated that she possesses both. Irwin achieved two goals with Lost and Found. She created an entertaining story line for young readers and she infused that story line with a message. The message is that life is a journey of both good and bad experiences and that life goes on in spite of those experiences.

Ms. Irwin used a unique technique to develop her characters, Crimson and Josiah. She introduce Crimson’s character in a rush at the start of the book. Josiah’s character revealed itself slowly over the length of the book as Crimson becomes more involved with her young counterpart. The different character development techniques worked off each other as a dance of sorts.

 I had the pleasure of working with Ms. Irwin a few weeks ago, at the 2016 Cavalcade of Authors in Washington State. The Cavalcade is a Pacific Northwest regional event similar to The International Science and Engineering Fair. The difference is that The Cavalcade brought 1200 middle school and high school readers and aspiring authors together with more than twenty of their favorite authors for a day of lectures, workshops, signing events and photo ops.

Ms.Irwin and I were both working volunteers at the event. While the event hosted a variety of authors, I would have liked to have heard a presentation by Ms. Irwin. She was so genuine and invested as she worked with the young attendees. Seeing Ms. Irwin in action gave me insight as to how passionate she is about introducing young people to the adventures of reading.

I rate Lost and Found four and a half stars just because I would have preferred more closure on some of the story threads. I count E.L. Irwin high on my list of my favorite and most impressive people. I highly recommend Lost and Found. As a techy, I am also looking forward to Ms. Irwin’s future foray into science fiction.

My name is Jeff Bailey. I write nuclear thrillers for a reason, I’ve worked in nuclear related industries, from nuclear weapons to nuclear research, for fifty years. Deer Hawk Publications released my first book, The Defect in June of 2016. In The Defect, I tell the story of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant and why the government covered it up. The Defect is based on true events. Deer Hawk Publications is scheduled to release I’m a Marine in May of 2017. I’m a Marine is about a female aviation firefighter in the U.S. Marines who witnesses the murder of two M.P.s. She decides that it is her duty to stop them. Keep in mind that I write nuclear thrillers. The Chilcoat Project, to be released in spring of 2018, is about the theft of nuclear weapons secrets from a national laboratory. The Chilcoat Project is also based on true events. My current project, Wine Country, is based on the true story of the Radioactive Boy Scout, but with a more sinister twist.