Should I skip to the end?

I’m reading, “The Year of Fog” by Michelle Richmond. Many times I picked the book up from the “paperback favorites” table at Borders and something always made me put it back. I’d sigh and think, another day; something inside me knew I wouldn’t love the book. Perhaps my love of television movies made me finally break down and buy it (is that more than a guilty pleasure now that I discuss it so often?) The plot screams Movie of the Week and the casting has been done in my mind.

I’m getting ahead of myself. I finally purchased the book because I had a credit for Borders and the book was part of the “Buy 2 get 1 Free” deal. If I hated it, there’s still hope for the other book to be better and I can consider this book the free one. Hey, whatever makes ya feel better, right? The pot- A woman is walking along a beach in San Francisco with her 6 year-old soon to be step-daughter. She lets go of the child’s hand for a minute, or maybe two, and the child disappears. Due to the incredible fog in San Fran, it’s as if the child just vanished into the air. The story has become a tale about the struggle the woman goes thru trying to stay connected to her fiancé, father of the missing girl, all while the search for the child continues to tear them apart. Did she have to let go of the child’s hand? Did he have to be away that weekend? Would it have happened had he been there that day on the beach? And so on and so on. At times, I find myself speeding thru the pages because the woman’s thoughts are told so well. Then suddenly the chapter becomes a new one, we’re in the past, changes again and we’re back in the present, and my wanting to even continue to read comes to a halt. There are 400 pages and I really think 200 and change would’ve been enough for this tale. I’m not an author, and I don’t plan on playing one on TV, but I bought the book therefore I get to judge the story. Or rather, the way it’s told. I must say, Jacquelyn Mitchard (“The Deep End of the Ocean”) told it better. Both stories are more about the people who lost the child and what that does to them. How do they cope? Have they changed? Did they ever really know each other before this horrible time in their lives? The characters in "The Year of Fog" are good, but something has me not 100% engaged.

The point? Should I just skip to the end? Find out if the child is found – dead, alive – never found? Sure, I’ve put down books and never went back to them, but just skipping to the end is foreign to me. Maybe if someone reading this has read the book they can accidentally e-mail and tell me the ending? That’s not cheating. Ah well, I’ll keep on reading. Only 226 pages to go. The start of the most recent chapter said it’s day 118. I suppose the title means by day 365 all is resolved? Ugh. Too bad it’s not, “The 6 Months of Fog.”

As for the tv casting - I'm thinking the "soon to be step-mom" who is last with the child should be played by Tiffani Thiessen. Younger than the description in the book, but a good fit.
Now, someone else read this book (or borrow my copy) and I'll share my other casting ideas!