"Ann Olson stood in her kitchen feeling like an animal shoved into a cold, airless box. The two detectives who had responded to their 911 call were combing the backyard for clues to Travis’ whereabouts. Like a drumbeat on her brain, pummelling away at her incredulity, at the innocent part of her that never before believed that true evil existed, the reality of her son’s disappearance forced itself upon Ann, choking her with sobs."
Sarno's tumultuous debut thriller sees Anne and Richard Olson's privileged life in La Jolla, San Diego plunged into despair when their son, Travis is taken from the backyard of their sea-front home.
Anne and Richard are already being investigated by Child Protective Services as a result of bruises being found on Travis by a teacher at school and a prior separate incident when a neighbour called the police to their home because they could hear screaming coming from her house. Anne is convinced child protection officer Kika Garcia, whom Anne sees as having a vendetta against her, is behind the abduction, but Travis' loss is one in an unusually high number of missing children in the area. Children taken but no ransom has yet been demanded for any of them, so who is taking them and why?
Drawing on all the possibilities of who could have taken her child, Anne would do anything to get her son back and goes on her own search for Travis, exhausting leads to drug cartels in Mexico. However the truth behind Travis' abduction is convoluted and beyond her worst nightmares. Despite warnings from the authorities and the pleas of her husband and friend, Anne puts herself in mortal danger twice to get her son back over the border in Tijuana. The strain on the Olsen marriage caused by Travis' loss is immeasurable.
Sarno adds another dimension to the mystery when she writes about the past history of Nora, Chet March's mother and Anne's close friend who lost a child in Mexico in the seventies. Chet's precarious relationship with his mother and Anne over his faith has a sinister edge which keeps surfacing in the plot. Kika is a troubled character too who is searching for her father whom she never knew after suffering years of abuse from her adoptive mother. Could her past be linked in some way to Travis' abduction?
This harrowing thriller draws you in from the first page; Anne is a very relatable mother and career-woman battling to balance her role at home with her career aspirations. The book is told mostly from her point of view. Her perfectionist nature causes her much self-doubt, as a mother and then blame when Travis goes missing. In her despair she is comforted by a local Pastor, Chet March, much to the chagrin of her husband, Richard. As atheists neither Anne nor Richard usually have any involvement with the church and Richard's skepticism regarding Chet's motives to convert them overshadow the help and support the pastor provides. Anne questions her faith, which allows her character to grow as the plot develops.
Despite the fact the chapters are chronologically dated, the tortuous ordeal of the parents, whose children are abducted is well-written and Sarno conveys the array of emotions in these parents very well indeed:
"Mrs. Aziz’s eyes flashed bitterness. “You have no idea what we’ve been through.” I think we have some idea, Ann thought. “You see. It’s God’s will,” Mrs. Aziz said. A stream of invectives followed against people in general, Americans in particular, and the unfairness of this life that had robbed them of their child. Ann listened, fascinated by the glimpse into this woman’s soul tied up in knots of confusion and hatred."
Sufficient Ransom, is not an easy read in terms of the subject matter, especially for parents out there, but the story is well crafted to have huge impact and the twists and turns in the plot kept me guessing throughout the book. The conclusion is climactic and satisfying.
This mystery thriller has a lot to offer, The characters are well written, flawed and realistic. The story flows easily and the book is difficult to put down once you start reading, so if you're looking to get hooked into a thriller that will consume your powers of deduction, then look no further.