Julia Crowne is going through every parent's worst nightmare. A series of timing issues has kept Julia from picking up her five-year-old daughter, Anna, from school on time. Although, Julia had done everything possible to either get there on time herself or find someone else to be at the school on time, things just are not on her side. As a result of her being several minutes late, she arrives to find that Anna is nowhere in sight. She has simply vanished.

After a frantic search by Julia as well as the school staff, she phones the police to report her daughter as missing. A search is thoroughly conducted but Anna is nowhere to be found. To make matters worse, Julia has informed her husband, Brian, that she wants a divorce and they are not exactly working together on things. Then there is Brian's mother, Edna, who suffers from what can only be called a superiority complex. She still orders Brian around as if he was a child and, of course, she hates Julia.

A long week goes by and suddenly Anna walks into a small shop several miles away from her home. Everyone rejoices to find that Anna is alive and well. The only troubling thing is that Anna has no memory of who took her or where she has been for the last week.

This means that the kidnapper is still out there somewhere and must be found before another child goes missing.

AFTER ANNA is a very unique and exciting book with a plot that most people will not be able to figure out what is actually happening. There is plenty of tense action as the race is on to find little Anna before something worse happens to her. In fact, I found it to be one of those "sitting on the edge of your seat" type of plot lines. Once I began reading it, I was captivated by the intensity of the main character's actions. We all have those days when nothing goes right and that is just what Julia Crowne is having, although most parents do not have things spiral out of control by having their child kidnapped.

I found AFTER ANNA to offer a very different twist to the usual child kidnapping plot and was quite wrapped up in who has taken Anna and if she will ever be able to help authorities figure out who took her. This is one that you never want to put down once you begin reading because it draws you into the world of Julia and everyone around her.

I cannot say that it is a scary book but it has plenty of suspense to offer and will keep you on pins and needles even after you feel the ending has happened. Expect the unexpected with AFTER ANNA.