The Empty Place at the Table

by John Ellsworth, Jode Jurgensen

OVER 1,500,000 COPIES SOLD, AMAZON HAS SAID, "WE ARE INSPIRED BY THE SUCCESS OF THIS WRITER AND HOW HE IS DELIGHTING READERS"--AMAZON PRESS RELEASE 10/15/18 It was just a quick sandwich in the hospital cafeteria... But when she returned to her daughter's room... Whatever happened to Melissa's daughter is anyone's guess. The police seal the hospital doors; a search proceeds but the four-year-old is nowhere to be found The girl is gone, vanished without a ransom note, without a body being found, without a trace. The detectives believe she has most likely been sold into human trafficking. No matter, Melissa is determined. She is also very, very bright, a woman who refuses to give up, a woman who knows what motherhood means. She journeys to Mexico in search of her missing child. She confronts the Tijuana Cartel. Do they have her daughter? Twelve years have passed by and she no longer has any idea what the little girl even looks like. Then...two unmistakable eyes peer out at her from a passing van. But was it Melissa's daughter? Watch one desperate woman and one lost child try to reach across time and connect. A story to please you to the very end. A psychological thriller you'll want to read in one sitting...

Genres: Fiction, Mystery

330 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 4, 2017

About the author

Formerly a trial lawyer for 30 years, John Ellsworth is now a full-time writer of thrillers and historical fiction, with over millions of copies sold. He holds titles such as USA Today bestseller, an Amazon Bestseller and Featured Author, as well as a Kindle All-Star.

Official Website: www.ellsworthbooks.com
Official Twitter: @jellsworthbooks
Official Instagram: @johnellsworth_author
Official Facebook: facebook.com/johnellsworthauthor

Reviews

[Tulay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay read.

Because John Ellsworth, read this book. Definitely doesn't measure up to his other books, majority of this story must have been written by the other writer. Emotional story, but to many unbelievable actions and twists. There are good teachable moments in this story also.

[Pat Allison · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the most poorly written and organized books I've read. The way the author presented the material was child-like and inconsistent. I'm happy I borrowed this book and didn't purchase it.

[ReadingGirlReviews (Gina) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out good, really, it did. There was a lot of potential....and then BAM!!! Imagine if you can Tom Cruise, Liam Neeson, Bruce Willis, Stallone and Schwarzenegger all high on some serious crap, stuffed in a blender and shot out splattering all over the place attempting to act out a drama/action movie with a plot worse than Sharknado. Ok, maybe I'm going a bit overboard here but this was so totally unreal and not even close to believable that I'm just befuddled entirely.
I gave it 2 stars because it actually could have developed into a good book. The beginning started off great, and it had potential to become a plausible story with a great premise, but then the author went completely off the deep end into a tale so unimaginable that I had to force myself to finish. I can't recommend this book unless you are looking for an example of something poorly written to do a paper on in your Junior High English class.

[Gloria ~ mzglorybe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A widow's 4 yr old daughter goes missing from her hospital room. Every resource is used to try to find her, but 12 yrs pass before she learns that the girl may be alive and had been taken for human trafficking by Mexican cartels. By then she has remarried and has another daughter. It gets even more complicated when the girls father is brought into the storyline, but to disclose anymore would be spoiling it for those intending to read it.

It kept my attention for sure, but stretched credibility more than once. We are supposed to believe that a woman, albeit a wealthy one, with no background or experience in dealing with horrendous criminal cartels would take it upon herself to go into another country in a rescue effort with her nephew, just the two of them, carrying weapons and even killing a bad guy in the process. She goes in and out of Mexico as if it's that easy, ignoring the advice of professionals and hiring her own hit men. Even her dialogue when talking to the men trying to help her "I'm the general, remember... it gets done my way and it's not open to negotiation" and, ahem, they do it her way ... yeah, right... as if she knows best how to deal with this situation. It raised my eyebrows a time or two, I tell you, but I kept telling myself... "It's fiction, remember."

Quite honestly, it had me engrossed at times, but I expected more believability to it all, what with all the reviews, and expected more. Thanks to John Ellsworth, the author, for the opportunity to review this and give my unbiased opinion.

[Josephine Sorrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out really good. Then it became really unrealistic and toward the end, I was bored with the book.

[Nancy Silk · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Fears Of A Mother"

While mom is having a quick sandwich at the Chicago hospital cafeteria, her four-year-old daughter, Lisa, disappears from her room. She's vanished with no ransom note, without finding her body, and without a trace. Could she have been sold into human trafficking? Melissa searches far and wide, even into Mexico. It's been 12 years now since Lisa's disappearance. This is an extremely thrilling suspense novel, very well written and definitely a fast page turner. It is told in the first person by Melissa. It's a very emotional story which swiftly moves into a shocking and amazing thriller. A story to learn from for all mothers.

[Barbara Balch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not up to snuff...

I was disappointed with this book, primarily because I found it to be written in such a manner as to leave me floundering about in as choppy sea of words. I also felt it to be pretty unbelievable.

[Peg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I've been reading too many nonfiction books lately because as a work of fiction this book seemed like there were too many impossible situations. Her first husband comes back after being declared dead and has converted to Muslim. He accepts that his wife is married and that their daughter was abducted 15 years ago. With all that going on he isn't suffering from PTDS. This wasn't believable to me. You lost me as a reader when the character was going to watch Rachel Madow to help herself to relax. Rachel Madow doesn't relax me and a political agenda is being added. The premise of the story was interesting which is why I bought the book, but the execution was slow with too many other variables added to the story that weren't necessary or unbelievable.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inconsistent. Unbelievable. Too much time lapse. Sadly uninteresting and very disappointed. Way too many inconsistencies to enjoy it. One page a character would be described as a teenager, on the very next he was 23. These kinds of extreme inconsistencies continued the entire way through the book.
Too many in your face suggestions to make you think one way, that it was obvious it wouldn't be. Too much jumping in time.
Was really looking forward to this book and was left sadly disappointed.

[allie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written

There are multiple typos in the rambling, uneven prose from the author; on top of that the main villains name randomly changes about halfway through the book with no explanation. The uneven and disjointed writing takes away from what was a good story line when the book began.

[Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst I think the idea for this story is interesting I found the way it was written was a bit annoying..no passports ever seem to be required to move people over the border...really? The characters seemed rather one dimensional and their interactions a little false. It felt glib and superficial. Didn't love it.

[Evie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good airplane read though plot not entirely believable.

[S. Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof, there are so many problems with this novel. Where do I start? I would strongly recommend reading all the one-and two-star Amazon reviews before paying any money for this book.

[Kavita · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a stupid story. Do not buy/read this book. It's free for Amazon Prime members to borrow but still. What a waste of my time. It was like a bad action movie. I thought Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman made me irritated but this was worse. First off I don't normally write reviews with spoilers but this one has to have many to convey how moronic the concept was. You have been warned, since I'm not sure what happens on goodreads to the review if you're going to write it then choose to have it hidden.

It was written in first person from the perspective of Melissa, whose adopted 4 year old daughter was abducted from her hospital bed. First of all, I am not saying it's impossible but in the 10 min it takes the mother to go the cafeteria and someone comes late at night to do a radiology test on the child and none of the nurses know? That seems so unrealistic to me. For a pediatric ward you would think someone would have to escort the child or there would be an order or why would it be done late at night. That said...the events that follow I felt like Melissa's reaction was muted. Even during the interrogation of her nephew who lived with her and with the input of the grandparents who immediately involved some Corporal to help with the search. And why would the detective use the character to canvas the neighbourhood and find out information without an officer present to interview the people as well. Perhaps I am not versed on missing persons cases. But Melissa was strangely involved in this investigation. The first person thing was also inappropriate since several chapters did not involve the main female character. So how is she supposed to know this was happening to them? It doesn't read like it's information she was told in detail afterwards.

Anyway so they never find the child and 12 years later, her Army husband who she thought was KIA, really was a prisoner and converted to the Islamic religion then escaped and is back in the US. Ok, so he accepts she has a new family now, and decides, I'm getting back pay we need to find the child (who is actually his biologically). But rich lady Melissa takes things into her own hands. Years before they discovered the girl was likely abducted by a Mexican cartel to be sold into the slave trade in Dubai but then nothing was done after that. All the money spent et cetera yielded nothing at the time. Yet here she is going down to Mexico with her nephew, accidentally sees a girl she thinks is her now teenaged daughter in a van with some men and follows them. Then rolls up in a bank takes out a million dollars cash, isn't flagged by anyone, returns to the cartel's house to buy the girl back. Plays Russian Roulette with the cartel leader's gun and leaves with the wrong girl. How does she not die at this point I will never know. How does she not confirm the girl is his...also stupid. Since the man initially said oh your daughter is Maria and then brings out another called Consuela. What???

Then her Army ex husband gets involved and he goes to rescue his biological daughter who reveals she birthed a child at 13 years old. The cartel then sends an assassin for Melissa so that they could try to get more money for this little girl. Army ex husband comes up with a plan, not a very good one, since he gets shot in his head and Melissa is injured but not fatally. Brilliantly she decides to return to Mexico to rescue her not biological granddaughter with the first teenager she rescued who she mistook as her daughter. Her big plan A was carry a gun that she didn't know how to use, try to kill the man who sexually assaulted and impregnated her adopted daughter AND rescue the little girl. Not only does the gun fail, but Mexican guy chases her to a beach and she accidentally kills him with a broken sea shell.

I did so much eye rolling for this novel, I should have ruptured an extraocular muscle.
It doesn't end there. Mexican cartel leader hires the same assassin to try to kill her again. This time the original detective gets wind of it and formulates a scenario to protect this wealthy white lady with no common sense. Melissa by the way, is the executive producer of a TV talk show. This isn't like the Jennifer Garner movie Peppermint where she actually trains herself for 5 years to go avenge her family's death. This is just a working class, Caucasian married woman/mother with ill thought out plan. So she has all this money AND security firm at her disposal...who by the way were somehow not utilized when the adopted daughter was taken from the hospital. This time though...they decided it would be good to turn the assassin on the cartel leader and stage Melissa's death with an expert and makeup. If they had all these resources before then couldn't her daughter have been located much earlier on in the game?

*blink blink* I can't believe I got to the end of this book. It was so unbelievable and not enjoyable in the least. Too many flaws to count and write about.

[Shelley Renee · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are so many things wrong with this book that it's hard to know where to start. First of all, I didn't notice at first that the "author" is actually two different writers - which made complete sense after I started reading and then noticed that, because the book completely reads as if two different people wrote it. In the first few chapters, the writing of the mother's loss of her kidnapped child is so horrible it's beyond belief. The way the author express her loss and grief is basically her saying "oh god, my baby!!" over and over. As we get into the story and the parents begin trying to track down the kidnappers into the Mexican cartel, a real racist bias comes through distinctly. Brown people - bad, criminals, drug lords. White people - good, innocent, victims. I mean, the constant characterizations of all the Mexicans in the story as violent and evil while the "good guy" white folk take them down is pretty awful. Also, it's mentioned over and over how the kidnapping can't be money/ransom related, because mom "isn't wealthy" - at the same time, while it's revealed that she makes more than a million dollars a year. ??!!?? I don't know in whose world that isn't considered wealthy. The entire book is just full of horrible, schizophrenic writing, bad cliches, unbelievable crap that makes no sense and is completely absurd....really, it's the worst book I've read in a long time. After the first third I kept reading to see if it would get better; in the last third I just kept reading to see how BAD it really could get. In that way, it exceeded my expectations.

[Kristin. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good yarn, just a bit distressing

The Empty Place at the Table is the story of incredible grief endured by a woman whose little girl is kidnapped from her hospital bed when Mom took a fifteen minute break! Her grief had been further compounded by the loss of her husband in the Afghanistan war. Her life advanced years with her remarriage and birth of another little girl. This is where things become a bit too incredible: suddenly her supposedly dead spouse returns, a convert to the Muslim faith, and he becomes seriously involved in the quest to reclaim the lost daughter, Lisa, from the drug cartel responsible for her ongoing imprisonment. Things get even more intense when it is learned that Lisa has a three year old girl who is still held by the captor. Life gets even more complex when the Mexican cartel sends men to kill Melanie, Lisa's mother. But they end up wounding her but killing her back- from- the -dead husband. This novel never seems to give the characters ( or the reader, for that matter) a break. The story continues with a relatively happy ending, but the sadness never quite leaves the reader. A bit TOO intense at times with some less than realistic turns. All in all, a pretty good read.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the print edition of this book. Melissa has been sitting in the hospital room with her sick little girl, Lisa. She runs down to the cafeteria to grab a quick sandwich and when she comes back, Lisa is gone. Her four year old daughter has been taken from the hospital; every parent's worst nightmare; losing a child! Lisa is gone without a trace of evidence. Melissa 'moves on' with her life, but 12 years later, while at a stop light, a van passes by and she thinks the young woman in the van is her Lisa. The story then stretches the reader's imagination by having Melissa become involved with Mexican drug cartels, human trafficking, and other current sad criminal activities; all in the name of rescuing the daughter she never got to raise and some other people's daughters as well. At times I was over whelmed with the number of 'bad folk' who came into the story. I know many people with an empty place at their table because of the loss of a child, so I understood Melissa's drive to find her child. The book moves quickly and Melissa remains a fighter to the end.

[Sheila Woofter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started this book last night. I began to feel it might be like a soap opera, but it was the only book I had available to read. And then...

p15 "He (Mark) took only what he could eat and shared that with his welfare grandparents who'd raised him."
p 17 "When I shared the story with Mark's parents, they were speechless. Then, in a sudden rush of competing emotions, they began crying and laughing; they were ecstatic that their granddaughter carried their son's genes. She really represented their son now that he was gone, and she was a part of him, something tangible that they could still hold and cuddle and kiss. A special bond was formed the day I told them. Mark's parents were wealthy--..... "

I've gone back and reread these pages and can't find anything I missed. Rich parents who want to be close to the only thing left of their son. It doesn't jive with being raised by welfare grandparents. Maybe this dichotomy is addressed later in the book, but it is just too much for me to continue.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was just a quick sandwich in the hospital cafeteria...

But when she returned to her daughter's room...

Whatever happened to Melissa's daughter is anyone's guess. The police seal the hospital doors; a search proceeds but the four-year-old is nowhere to be found

The girl is gone, vanished without a ransom note, without a body being found, without a trace. The detectives believe she has most likely been sold into human trafficking. No matter, Melissa is determined. She is also very, very bright, a woman who refuses to give up, a woman who knows what motherhood means. She journeys to Mexico in search of her missing child. She confronts the Tijuana Cartel. Do they have her daughter? Twelve years have passed by and she no longer has any idea what the little girl even looks like.

Then...two unmistakable eyes peer out at her from a passing van. But was it Melissa's daughter? Watch one desperate woman and one lost child try to reach across time and connect. A story to please you to the very end.

[ursula gift · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved that book, I felt so sad for Mellisa but she was a strong woman, John i not only write about law but I do some sixpence as well. That was a well put together story, I was shocked when Mel's husband came back and then she was married to Peter, I was thinking that she was going back to her husband but they each spoke about the situation and I felt happy about that. But most of all I am so glad that in the end she had that guy who raped her daughter and impregnate her killed then, turn the table in the real kidnapper and had him and his body guard killed, I remember when I was small my grand mother used to say when I dig one ditch u better dig two, because the one I dig for someone u can call in it urself, that's exactly what happened to the kidnapper, and his crew, I enjoyed how it ended, I was thinking that Mel was a little headstrong but she showed the animal in her as a real mother who will go to any length to die for her children.

[J&B Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story.

Thoroughly enjoyable story about a mother who was willing to do anything to get her daughter back after she was kidnapped from her hospital bed. This was my first book by John Ellsworth and I'll definitely check out his other books.

Why four stars and not five? Well to be honest I actually would have given it 3.5 stars but that's not an option so I rounded up. Anyway, my reason for the lower rating was due to the transformation of the mother, Melissa. I certainly get the idea of a mother who will stop at nothing to get her child back but what Mel was able to accomplish in the last third of the book was bordering on preposterous.

Still it kept me engaged from beginning to end and I would recommend it as a good read.

[Paul Fussner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving story with a magnificently entertaining detail towards reality

John Ellsworth continues his computation of literary excellence in this realistic heart warming tail of a masterfully executed story that you'll follow as if it were you who had lost you're only child to a sex trafficking ring . As if that weren't enough,throw in the return of you're husband whom you thought was killed in the war, and this story has more twists than you thought possible. This author has everything wrapped up in a mesmerizing suspense thriller that kept me turning pages into the we hours of the morning, this latest book by Ellsworth is a must read page turner you don't want to miss.

[Lisa Thomason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inconsistencies...

I struggled with this book, setting it aside for months before being determined to finish it just so I can delete it from my Kindle.

Within the first few pages, Melissa's nephew ages from a teenager to 20-something all in the space of one police interview. The disappearance of Lisa is 12 hours old, only to be *nearly* 12 hours old two pages later. Dialogue is stilted and ridiculous.

Yes, I finished the book, with a lot of skimming just to get to the end. I'm not racing to buy another book by the author(s). Maybe better attention to detail and/or a new editor are in order.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young girl is kidnapped from her hospital bed by a member of a Mexican cartel when her mother leaves her bedside to get a sandwich. Her husband was KIA in Afganistan prior and with her in-laws and family, spent years searching for her daughter. The mother remarries in time and has another daughter when she is notified that her first husband is not dead but held captive for many years before his escape and has since been brought to the U.S. Lots of action before they discover what happened to the little girl.

[Louise Pledge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could have finished this in one sitting (er lying), as it was too engrossing to put down. But I fell asleep and was upset the next morning to realize it. I am drawn to stories about missing children, so this was a must-read for me.... that and I am a John Ellsworth fan! There were several unexpected developments, as well as a few expected ones. Most of the comments I can come up with would give away part of the plot, so I'll just recommend that if you like suspense, action, etc, give this book a try!

Rating: R (for language and sex, although both were not extreme)

[karin whitehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Empty Place at the Table by John Ellsworth and Jode Jurgensen

It's 3:30 a.m., I finished reading one of the best books I've read, and I read a lot of them! I loved how the story was told from the perspective of Melissa, it somehow put me into the story, I felt her love, her fears and her drive. A mother's love is the strongest. Action packed, fast paced, kept me in tears at times, others, wanting to tell Melissa to get 'em! Definitely reading more of John Ellsworth and Jode Jurgensen. Together or separately. A must read...

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't feel like this is John Ellsworth's best writing....and to be fair, he didn't write this alone. Another reason why I thought it was just okay. The story starts out okay, then it spirals into things that to me, didn't make sense and just really wouldn't happen in real life. I don't know which author wrote what, but when I pick up a John Ellsworth book, I expect more than what this book delivers.

[Kathy Buehler · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started out interesting but somewhere the plot became so crazy. I felt like all of a sudden there were 5 other stories trying to be told. Major events in life as a husband known dead in the war for 10 years. And he smoothly reenters the life of his family within a few pages. Mom takes on the drug cartel- twice on her own.
I didn't even want to finish this book because it was so poorly written.

[Dalia Pelleg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read because of John Ellsworth's name as the author. Very disappointed........ Started OK but 15% into the story it becomes totally senseless, chopped, lacking reasonable details for actions, and overall poorly written. I continued reading to the end hoping something will change and get back on course but - NADA....... never happened. I should have read others reports before even starting to read.
Two starts just for the save of grace maybe the authors will improve next time.

[Eileen Shankle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started out really exciting. A woman visiting her young daughter in the hospital goes to grab a sandwich,and when she returns the daughter is missing. Then it develops into two more stories, both highly unbelievable (to me) . I won't talk about them due to spoilers. It kept me going, because I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. I am really not a fan of suspense books, maybe that's why I wasnt that crazy about it.