The title STABLE drew me to look, as I read horse books, but it was immediately clear that this was a thriller about missing kids. As the outline seemed interesting and the location scenic, I gave it a go, and I’m glad to start a new series. Fans of outdoor thrillers will find a lot in common with Nevada Barr’s works.
Tyler Zahn stars in this new series. He is based in the Collegiate Peaks of Colorado. Previously he was an Air Force pilot and he’s living with the results of war and personal tragedy. As a result, his marriage broke up, and he’s trying to reconnect with his daughter. Daria, a sporty girl who enjoys riding, hiking, and fishing, tells us it’s tough coming from a mixed-race family. Right now, the hardest part is her dad organising her into a multitude of activities to compensate for all they missed together over the past few years.
Tyler Zahn is called upon when another daughter, Janae Longmont, a preteen girl visiting relatives, goes missing, wearing a pink jacket. She is a quiet, book-loving girl who doesn’t wander, so her family assumes someone abducted her. Chaffee County Search and Rescue volunteers are soon out combing the mountains, and Tyler finds a terrified young girl in a pink jacket concealing herself under a fallen tree. Obviously, he thinks this is Janae, but it’s Kendall, who made a break for it from a stable where she and other young girls are being held. This starts a search for the location of the kidnappers.
As with some strong thrillers, there are details you really don’t want to find in your read, and this book hits the perfect balance. Due to the fact of the young age of the kidnap victims, less is more, and the sheer horror of the situation and dread of what might happen are plenty to carry the plot. We also get good contrast, for instance, a church holiday camp, someone getting injured through sheer carelessness while riding a horse, and other aspects of everyday life in the mountain town.
Both Tyler and Daria are great, determined characters, making mistakes but trying to go easy on each other. To me it was clear that author Cam Torrens had set Tyler in an adventure previously, and in a note he tells us this is his first published book but not his first written book, with his second novel, FALSE SUMMIT, soon to follow. I’ll be looking out for Tyler’s next adventure. STABLE is well-written and contains plenty of detail about the outdoors, and even a few horses. I found this to be a gripping mountainside thriller with a refreshing outlook.
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