DOUBLE ABDUCTION

by Chris Beakey

Five years after her close brother and boyfriend are cleared in the abduction and murder of her older son, a woman's younger son disappears and the two men in her life are once again named prime suspects, a situation that poses a difficult dilemma for policewoman Gloria Towson, who believes the case's lead investigator is also involved.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published November 12, 2007

About the author

Hey there – thanks for visiting me on Goodreads! I write book reviews for the New York Journal of Books, and on my blog at blog.chrisbeakey.com, and always enjoy learning about books people are reading and liking. My second thriller, FATAL OPTION, is on its way to publication by Post Hill Press and distribution by Simon & Schuster in February of 2017. I think the best way to describe it is by sharing what my publisher wrote in the letter that’s accompanying the Advance Reading Copies:

Dear Readers and Reviewers:

On the coldest night of the year, Stephen Porter is pulled from a restless sleep by a midnight phone call. His 17-year-old daughter Sara is stranded in a blizzard near the top of a mountain beyond their suburban home. She's terrified and unable to stop crying as she begs him to come to her rescue.

Unfortunately, Stephen went to bed after a night of binge drinking prompted by a recent death in the family just an hour before. With his blurred vision and unsteady balance he knows it’s dangerously irresponsible to get behind the wheel. But he heads out into the snowstorm to bring Sara home.

High school teacher Kieran O’Shea is also behind the wheel, searching for his autistic younger brother Aidan, who is wandering aimlessly through the storm on that same mountain. Kieran is also terrified—of the voices in his mind, of the possibility that Aidan will be taken from him, and the likelihood he will be arrested for murdering three women.

In a matter of minutes Stephen will encounter Kieran and drive headlong into a collision that will force him to question everything he knows about his family and protect his children from a violence that hits all too close to home.          

I’ve come across a lot of thrillers during the nearly three decades I’ve spent at Simon & Schuster, Random House and now Post Hill Press. From the very first pages Chris Beakey’s Fatal Option captivated me like no other book in recent memory. It’s a striking portrayal of a good man who does a very bad thing for the best of all possible reasons.

My enthusiasm for this book is shared by a growing number of thriller writers at the top of their game, along with everyone here at Post Hill Press. We’re producing more Advance Reading Copies than we’ve offered for any other title, and are going to great lengths to support Chris’ efforts to connect with readers and reviewers.

Anthony Ziccardi
Publisher

Of course I’m thrilled with Anthony’s praise of this book. It’s not really a jumping up and down kind of thrilled though . . . more of a calm appreciation for the reward from decades of hard work. Owing more to the power of belief and motivation than talent, I started writing stories as soon as I was able to hold a pencil. Success came in snippets years later – with English compositions singled out by a certain high school teacher who held me after class and told me to keep at it; followed by a novella published in serial form in my college newspaper and a short story that won first prize in a literary competition.

The hard years came news – about 20 to be exact. They’re a bit of a blur now – thanks to 4 a.m. wake up calls that gave me three hours to write before heading off to my day job, and the emotionally challenging ups and downs and hairpin turns that eventually led me to an agent and my first book. DOUBLE ABDUCTION was published in 2007 by a small publisher who rescued it from an only slightly-larger publisher that declared bankruptcy the day after the Advance Reading Copies were printed. It earned good reviews and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

I started FATAL OPTION a couple of years after that, and rewrote it three times before Anthony and his team gave me their enthusiastic thumbs up. I’d be very pleased to know what my fellow readers in the GoodReads community think of the opening chapters (which are posted on my page).

I also look forward to sharing reviews of other books. Best wishes to all.

Reviews

[Stephanie Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris Beakey's book, DOUBLE ABDUCTION, is a fast-paced mystery set in Washington, D.C. The abduction involves the kidnapping of a 5-year-old boy while the child is under the care of his uncle, Michael Bennett. The uncle becomes an immediate suspect, as the boy's older brother also disappeared years earlier, also under the care of Michael.
The plot weaves a serial murderer, hidden motives, child pornography, Internet privacy, and prejudice (both racial and sexual) into a page-turning novel.
Beakey brings to our attention the road-blocks that some prejudices cause, without banging the message over our heads. This is both appreciated and, for a first novel, inspiring. I very much look forward to reading more of his work in the future.
--Stephanie

[Wayward Daughter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apart from the typos and a couple of inconsistent plot details, I actually enjoyed this story. Love the character of Michael; a twenty something gay man who has been accused and forced to live through tragedies in his life. I wish the story would have delved more into the character of Mary, Michael’s sister. I liked Gloria and Booker and Tom. The abduction story was good and the twist at the end was surprising and not something I had been expecting. I wish the story had somehow tied the pedophile ring, Ferguson, and Martin together a bit better. I also wish Martin’s attraction to young boys had been explored a bit more, and that there had been some concrete association between Benjamin’s sexual assault and his uncle. I did feel like the ending of the book, though good with the twist, almost seemed rushed while the rest of the book did a good job of building the suspense just to have some of it fall flat. I like that Scott and Mary got back together, but everything kind of ended a little too perfect. Overall, I liked the story and the homosexual topics within. I would read something else by this author, but wish that the editors would be a bit more thorough in the future.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book and all I can say is 'WOW'! Yes, it is a step away from my usual read because it is a suspense novel and if I didn't get a free copy, I probably would not have bought it. After reading an excerpt on the author's website, I decided to give it a go. Well, it was fast, intense reading....I couldn't put it down.

Here is what the flyleaf has to say about this book:

A child in danger
A pre-school teacher with a past
48 hours for a rescue with a killer shadowing every move

For Michael Bennett, spending time with his beloved five-year-old nephew Justin goes hand in hand with his ongoing recovery from terrors of the past. But now Justin has vanished while under Michael's care.

As the prime suspect in the boy's disappearance, Michael is forced into an uneasy alliance with enigmatic Washington, D.C. policewoman Gloria Towson, who believes Justin's fate is connected to a serial killer who targets gay men. In a desperate effort to rescue Justin and save Michael from becoming the killer's next victim, Gloria is tracking the abductor online, a task made more difficult by her supervisor, Louis D'Amecourt, who may be conspiring with FBI officials to keep her from learning the truth.

Yet Michael may not be as innocent as he claims. He and D'Amecourt share a devastating secret, and five years ago Michael's first nephew disappeared in a remarkably similar crime.

Double Abduction is creepy and unnerving, difficult to put down until the last page is turned. There are so many twists, turns, characters and seemingly sub-plots, that at first, I thought I would need an outline to help me keep it all straight. Involved in reading, I could easily let my mind work ahead and try to figure out who the villains where (and there were several) and not everyone is as they appear to be.

I noticed several editing errors and for a while, they threw me off the story, but that is something that needs to be overlooked. I also thought the author, in some instances, overused character's full names when first or last names or pronouns would have sufficed, but that's just me and I tried not to let it interfere with my enjoyment of the book. In all, I gave this book a 4 star rating. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys suspenseful thrillers.

[Christi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. Is is Beakey's first novel and a compelling mystery. Kept me interested and turning the pages and I did not figure out all the twists and turns until they were revealed at the end.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have given this a 2 1/2, I was surprised by the ending. However it was frustrating that the author kept so much from the reader until the end. What was in the box, Michael's connection to the first victim, and to the cop etc etc.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was embarassed by how bad the writing was. I kept reading it for a discussion group, but it was bad. There was no beauty or subtlity in the language or the story.

[Denise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just couldn't get into it. Couldn't even force myself to finish it.

[Ashley Elliott Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like this book. It was a quick read. There were some surprises at the end as to who the person was involved in all of the abductions, but otherwise, just a good old mystery.

[Dawn Leitheuser · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a good mystery, sad and creepy. Was not expecting the end at all!!

[Donna Valente · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very hard to read. I had a hard time following the story line and I couldnt get to know the characters well. Of course, everybody sees a book differently and this is my opinion.