All posts tagged: kidnapping

IN DEAR CHILD, a woman and her children escape their captor, but can they ever really be free? Plus a writing prompt

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By Leslie Lindsay  Darkly disturbing psychological thriller about a woman’s kidnapping and the aftereffects. ~WRITE ON WEDNESDAY|ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~ Bustle Best Books of Fall 2020Publishers Weekly Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers of Fall 2020She Reads Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2020 I loved ROOM (Emma Donoghue) and GONE GIRL (Gillian Flynn) and so when I heard DEAR CHILD (Romy Hausmann, October 6 2020 Flatiron Books) was being compared to BOTH of those books, I knew I had to get my hands on it asap. A woman flees her windowless shack in the woods, where she and her two children, Hannah and Johnathan, have lived in secret under the rule of a twisted man. Together, Lena and her daughter, Hannah, are in a hit-and-run car accident (though no causalities) in a rare opportunity to escape, found by the local authorities and taken to the hospital. Here is where DEAR CHILD starts, at the hospital, after the fact. Meanwhile, Matthias Beck has been tirelessly searching for his daughter for nearly fourteen years since her disappearance. He’s run into roadblocks and naysayers, including, at times, …

OMG! This book–y’all have GOT to read SUCH A FUN AGE, about race, class, and how everything can be misconstrued

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By Leslie Lindsay  A striking, surprising debut from from an exhilarating new voice, SUCH A FUN AGE is a compulsive page-turner.  AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A REESE’S BOOK CLUB x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK PICK “The most provocative page-turner of the year.” –Entertainment Weekly “A great way to kick off 2020.” –Washington Post   ~FICTION FRIDAY: SPOTLIGHT!~ You guys! I cannot stop thinking about–or talking about–this book! It’s a bit like Jennifer Weiner meets the pacing of a psychological thriller meets Kim Brooks’ SMALL ANIMALS, but there’s so much more, too. SUCH A FUN AGE (Putnam, December 30 2019) is compulsively readable; it’s like a bad car accident you just can’t take your eyes from. And I am so grateful to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for this review copy. Emira Tucker is a 25-year-old attractive black babysitter trying to make ends meet between her part-time jobs. She out at a friend’s 26th birthday party when the mother of her young charge calls–it’s nearly eleven p.m.–requesting her babysitting services–NOW. She doesn’t look like a babysitter at the moment. She’s …

Kelley Armstrong talks about her whip-fast, razor-smart thriller set in the Chicago suburbs about a missing child, her messy first drafts, how she loves ‘dive’ pizza joints and more in WHEREVER SHE GOES

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By Leslie Lindsay Juicy, twisty, can’t-put-down psychological thriller about a child abduction, a questionable narrator with a dark past, and so much more in WHEREVER SHE GOES. I was completely smitten with WHEREVER SHE GOES (June 25, Minotaur Books) by New York Times bestselling author, Kelley Armstrong, whose work I’ve yet to read. Just how far would YOU go to save a child? How far would you go to prove to the authorities that you are not delusional, that you know what you saw and you are worried about a child in danger? That’s the overarching question of this book, where Aubrey Finch is just sure she saw a boy taken from the playground against his will. But the officers called onto the case say no one has reported a missing child; end of case. But Aubrey is insistent. She spoke with the boy and his mother just recently at that very park; they exist. The boy is missing. But Aubrey is recently separated from her defense attorney husband and she doesn’t have full custody of their daughter–in fact, she only …

Crime writer Cara Hunter talks about the inspiration behind IN THE DARK, her research, how this one is a little like ROOM, but so much more sinister

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By Leslie Lindsay  Impressive police procedural meets psychological thriller in this deeply unsettling tale of a shocking secrets, IN THE DARK is head-spinning and riveting.  In her debut thriller, CLOSE TO HOME (2017), Cara Hunter took the U.K. by storm, introducing DI Adam Fawley and her dark police procedural mysteries. IN THE DARK is actually the second book in the series, but don’t let that deter you—IN THE DARK can very easily be a stand-alone read. A young woman and her toddler child are found ‘by chance’ by a construction crew working on home renovations when a crumbling shared wall is breached. They are starved, dehydrated, clinging to life and vastly unknown. How did this woman and her child find themselves locked in the basement of Dr. William Harper, a retired–and slightly demented–academic? The woman can’t speak, there are no missing persons reports, and the old man who owns the house claims he knows nothing. “A tense exploration of manipulation and betrayal . . . A solid psychological thriller with carefully developed characters and disturbing, cleverly masked revelations …

Write On, Wednesday: Helen Klein Ross on her astonishing debut, WHAT WAS MINE, motherhood, poetry, China, & so much more

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By Leslie Lindsay  Absolutely mesmerizing, astonishing, and emotionally riveting. I couldn’t put WHAT WAS MINE down.  It’s one of those horrific ‘daydreams’ all parents have, they turn their back for just one second and—poof—their precious child (or baby) is missing. In that sense, it’s a harrowing story and so I struggle saying WHAT WAS MINE was an ‘amazing’ book about infant abduction? But it is. The chapters are short, filled with complex emotion and gentle prose. It’s women’s fiction meets psych suspense meets thriller…and one of my favorite styles of books, hands down. Join me and author Helen Klein Ross as we chat about her debut fiction. Leslie Lindsay: Helen, it’s such a joy having you here. Thank you! I have to admit that I picked up WHAT WAS MINE because I am working on a similar theme in one of my works-in-progress. That was my reading motivation, but what was your writing inspiration, what was haunting you enough to bring you to the page?  Helen Klein Ross: Thanks for inviting me, Leslie. And thanks …

Write On, Wednesday: Gilly Macmillan talks about her smashing psychological debut WHAT SHE KNEW, the role social media plays to our insecurities, obsessing over the third book, CALL THE MIDWIFE, writing ‘the end,’ & so much more

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By Leslie Lindsay  It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: in a blink of an eye, their child goes missing. Gone. Without a trace. What could have happened? How could a parent have been so careless as to misplace her child? What unspools in a frantic search for missing 8-year old Ben, Rachel Jenner loses herself, casts blame on others, has the reader doubting just what is real. To make matters worse, the public turns on this distraught mother following a single,   momentary mistake.  [What She Knew is the US edition of Burnt Paper Sky, published Dec 1 2015.] WHAT SHE KNEW is an amazing debut by a highly talented writer, an emotional and enthralling tautly-paced and plotted ride to its chilling conclusion. I’m so honored to have Gilly Macmillan with us to chat about her psychological thriller debut. Leslie Lindsay: Gilly, thanks for taking the time to pop over the blog couch with us today. I read WHAT SHE KNEW in a breathless two days. I really wanted to know what happened that fateful afternoon …

Write On, Wednesday: Alexandra Burt talks about her psychological thriller REMEMBER MIA, kidnapping stats, too many stories in her head, & so much more

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By Leslie Lindsay  In this riveting psychological suspense debut, a young mother’s worst nightmare becomes shockingly real. I plowed through REMEMBER MIA, astounded with the gripping story, the horrendous acts and thoughts that filtered through the mother’s head, and knew I had to contact Alexandra Burt for an interview. At once hopeful and harrowing, this is a story that will have you reading well past your bedtime. Today, I am thrilled to welcome Ms. Burt to the blog couch. Pull up your favorite beverage and settle in. This is one you won’t want to miss. Leslie Lindsay: Thanks for being with us today, Alexandra! I so loved REMEMBER MIA. I’m always interested in what strikes an author when she sets pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), what was it about Estelle’s story that captivated you, propelling your novel? Alexandra Burt: I’m delighted to be here and thank you so much for reading REMEMBER MIA. Estelle’s story stewed in my head for many years before I actually put words on paper. I worked as a freelance …