The premise of "Father Unknown" by Fay Sampson has a lot of promise--a modern day mystery with uncanny links to the past and a likeable amateur detective/genealogist who uncovers those links. Unfortunately, after several interesting revelations and a quick mystery, most of the book is spent with the characters missing obvious clues, spinning their wheels agonizing over the same decisions over and over again, and praying for each other. For someone who loves both mysteries and researching family histories, this novel was a real disappointment, albeit with an interesting couple of sidenotes as to genealogy research and the thrill of finding all too human connections in the past. Also, though it not overtly stated in the marketing, this is definitely christian fiction, which may or may not be to the reader's taste. It was not to this reader.