Megan McDonald and Nicole Cutty, both high school seniors
in Emerson Bay, North Carolina, are enjoying the last beach
party of the summer when they are both abducted. Two weeks
later, Megan escapes and returns home. But what has
happened to Nicole...where is she?
Fast-forward a year and Megan is a celebrity author after
writing a novel about her ordeal. Suffering from survivor's
guilt, Megan is seeing a therapist, who's helping her
handle repressed memories that are coming to light. But
those traces of memory seem so sinister and chilling, Megan is
is afraid of the truth they will reveal.
Charlie Donlea's THE GIRL WHO WAS TAKEN is an
absorbing and complex thriller with just the right amount
of twists, turns, and surprises to keep one guessing until
the very end. The intriguing plot was scattered with enough
red herrings to make me suspect several of the male
characters, yet never figuring out the identity of the
villain. Donlea's keenly structured narrative develops an
interesting depth to his characters, and switching chapters
between current day and the previous year leading up to the
abductions helps to build the intensity of the storyline,
as well as the shocking outcome. I especially enjoyed the
well-detailed forensic elements in Livia's storyline, as
well as the realistic handling of Megan dealing with
survivor's guilt. With all its technical aspects, THE GIRL
WHO WAS TAKEN is scary suspense at its very best. I really
liked Donlea's first novel, SUMMIT LAKE, and put his name
on my must-read list. I can honestly say, I enjoyed THE
GIRL WHO WAS TAKEN even more than his first book. And I'm
hoping the ending sentence hints at more adventures for
Livia Cutty. Don't miss reading this excellent and
intriguing mystery/thriller.
Charlie Donlea, one of the most original new voices in suspense, returns with a haunting novel, laden with twists and high tension, about two abducted girls—one who returns, one who doesn’t—and the forensics expert searching for answers. Nicole Cutty and Megan McDonald are both high school seniors in the small town of Emerson Bay, North Carolina. When they disappear from a beach party one warm summer night, police launch a massive search. No clues are found, and hope is almost lost until Megan miraculously surfaces after escaping from a bunker deep in the woods. A year later, the bestselling account of her ordeal has turned Megan from local hero to national celebrity. It’s a triumphant, inspiring story, except for one inconvenient detail: Nicole is still missing. Nicole’s older sister Livia, a fellow in forensic pathology, expects that one day soon Nicole’s body will be found, and it will be up to someone like Livia to analyze the evidence and finally determine her sister’s fate. Instead, the first clue to Nicole’s disappearance comes from another body that shows up in Livia’s morgue—that of a young man connected to Nicole’s past. Livia reaches out to Megan for help, hoping to learn more about the night the two were taken. Other girls have gone missing too, and Livia is increasingly certain the cases are connected. But Megan knows more than she revealed in her blockbuster book. Flashes of memory are coming together, pointing to something darker and more monstrous than her chilling memoir describes. And the deeper she and Livia dig, the more they realize that sometimes true terror lies in finding exactly what you’ve been looking for.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy