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Nightmare Hall #27
Kidnapped
Nora, an orphaned education major with little memory of her past, is accused of kidnapping one of her students just before a series of attacks threaten her life, and Nora must remember how these attacks are related to her past. Original.
245 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1995
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297 people want to read
About the author
Diane Hoh
83 books283 followersDiane Hoh is the author of fifty-seven novels for young adults. She grew up in Warren, Pennsylvania but currently resides in Austin, Texas. Reading and writing are her favorite things, alongside gardening and grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 2, 2023
I have re-read this book and have given a re-evaluation to it now as an almost 40 year old mother of an almost three year old child.
I remember my late bestie Amy giving me this book. I don't think she was ever really into these YA thriller/horror books. She gave me this and a copy of The Dead Lifeguard by R.L. Stine for his Fear Street series.
I think they were given to her by her grandfather as gifts and once he passed away, she knew I liked these sort of books and didn't feel bad that they were going to someone who would appreciate them.
She also gave me a copy of The Awakening by John Russo that was her grandfather's and I still have all three.
I went from liking it to really liking it from 3 to 4 stars. I would say this book is amazing if not for the subject matter in my new position as a mom.
Nora Mulgrew is all alone at Nightmare Hall for that period of school between summer break and the start of the fall semester. She really isn't home much in her dorm room but working at a day-care center because she is an education major.
She wouldn't really have anywhere to go if she didn't have a job. Both of Nora's parents are dead and she lived with her Aunt Colleen from the time she was sixteen and until she came to Salem University.
Nora loved both of her parents but her mother had mental problems since Nora was a little girl and all she can ever remember is her mother crying and being in the hospital - first for treatment for mental illness and then for being physically sick.
She died and not long after, Nora's father died from being physically drained from his wife being sick as well as probably a broken heart.
Nora is a loving person and when one of the children at the daycare has her own mother in the hospital and her professor father being busy at work, Nora can not help but reaching out to the little girl.
Three year old Mindy Donner likes all of the workers at the daycare but she becomes so attached to Nora. Nora brings the little girl stuffed animals that her own mother crocheted by hand when Nora was younger and her boss Helen is not happy about one child getting more attention over the other.
Nora starts to bring the toys to the little girl at her home under watch of the housekeeper, Mary, and everything seems to be going fine.
The day Nora goes to visit Mindy and has an almost debilitating migraine strike her, she yells at the little girl for the first time to bring Mindy to tears. The housekeeper asks her to leave and Nora goes back to Nightingale Hall to get some rest.
It is also the first day that the nickname on campus of Nightmare Hall couldn't ring more true for Nora when the police show up at the door.
Mindy Donner has been kidnapped and the suspicion of her disappearance is left squarely on Nora!
Everyone else around Nora isn't really her friend but just a fellow worker at the daycare and it is just business to the police to ask questions to find out who might have taken the little girl. Also, Mindy is smart enough not to go with strangers despite her young age.
She would only go with someone she trusts and all of Nora's attention makes her suspect number one.
What Nora doesn't know is that someone she knows is setting her up. This person wants Nora to suffer and begins a cat and mouse game where the use of childrens' toys are going to be less than friendly in their use.
We get to hear the kidnapper tell Mindy a very long story - their story but there is no ending yet until they have had their revenge of a childhood stolen.
With the help of the only police officer, the handsome Jonah Reardon, who doesn't believe Nora has taken Mindy, Nora will start putting the pieces together of this jigsaw puzzle that is her own memory.
You see Nora...can't remember parts of her own childhood as well.
Something happened and now...will another child have to go through an emotional turmoil if no one can find Mindy?
We of course have a pool of other characters to be the one responsible for kidnapping Mindy and terrorizing Nora and you don't really know which one it could be even if it is written that most of the students who work at the campus daycare center adore the little girl and seem doubtful at first of Nora's innocence.
As I was reading, I could recall who was the kidnapper the moment the name appeared but Hoh is really good at keeping us in the dark until the reveal.
The climax is filled with tension and the ending is as happy as you can get yet tinged with sadness on the edges. The very last line we get is enough to make you breathe a little more steady and even smile or laugh with a tear in your eye.
It isn't really a spoiler but there is a scene where Mindy's father stops by to ask Nora where his daughter is. I can imagine the man going out of his mind with his wife being sick and his daughter missing so it clouds his judgment.
He doesn't believe Nora and he came over with all of the stuffed animals Nora had given his daughter. Professor Donner throws them back at Nora and says he doesn't want them in his house just as her fellow co-workers show up to check on her.
I feel bad for him and for Nora in that moment and it has always stuck with me. I guess because I could relate with Nora way back when as being accused of something awful and having no one believe me.
I still do but now I can also understand Mindy's father and his distress.
If you have not read this installment of Nightmare Hall, Kidnapped is a really good book I would recommend. A heads up to anyone who may be a person who knows someone or hopefully was not themselves kidnapped as a child may need a word of caution.
This book doesn't deal with ghosts or vampires or any fictional monster - it tackles heavy issues of real monsters out there.
I remember my late bestie Amy giving me this book. I don't think she was ever really into these YA thriller/horror books. She gave me this and a copy of The Dead Lifeguard by R.L. Stine for his Fear Street series.
I think they were given to her by her grandfather as gifts and once he passed away, she knew I liked these sort of books and didn't feel bad that they were going to someone who would appreciate them.
She also gave me a copy of The Awakening by John Russo that was her grandfather's and I still have all three.
I went from liking it to really liking it from 3 to 4 stars. I would say this book is amazing if not for the subject matter in my new position as a mom.
Nora Mulgrew is all alone at Nightmare Hall for that period of school between summer break and the start of the fall semester. She really isn't home much in her dorm room but working at a day-care center because she is an education major.
She wouldn't really have anywhere to go if she didn't have a job. Both of Nora's parents are dead and she lived with her Aunt Colleen from the time she was sixteen and until she came to Salem University.
Nora loved both of her parents but her mother had mental problems since Nora was a little girl and all she can ever remember is her mother crying and being in the hospital - first for treatment for mental illness and then for being physically sick.
She died and not long after, Nora's father died from being physically drained from his wife being sick as well as probably a broken heart.
Nora is a loving person and when one of the children at the daycare has her own mother in the hospital and her professor father being busy at work, Nora can not help but reaching out to the little girl.
Three year old Mindy Donner likes all of the workers at the daycare but she becomes so attached to Nora. Nora brings the little girl stuffed animals that her own mother crocheted by hand when Nora was younger and her boss Helen is not happy about one child getting more attention over the other.
Nora starts to bring the toys to the little girl at her home under watch of the housekeeper, Mary, and everything seems to be going fine.
The day Nora goes to visit Mindy and has an almost debilitating migraine strike her, she yells at the little girl for the first time to bring Mindy to tears. The housekeeper asks her to leave and Nora goes back to Nightingale Hall to get some rest.
It is also the first day that the nickname on campus of Nightmare Hall couldn't ring more true for Nora when the police show up at the door.
Mindy Donner has been kidnapped and the suspicion of her disappearance is left squarely on Nora!
Everyone else around Nora isn't really her friend but just a fellow worker at the daycare and it is just business to the police to ask questions to find out who might have taken the little girl. Also, Mindy is smart enough not to go with strangers despite her young age.
She would only go with someone she trusts and all of Nora's attention makes her suspect number one.
What Nora doesn't know is that someone she knows is setting her up. This person wants Nora to suffer and begins a cat and mouse game where the use of childrens' toys are going to be less than friendly in their use.
We get to hear the kidnapper tell Mindy a very long story - their story but there is no ending yet until they have had their revenge of a childhood stolen.
With the help of the only police officer, the handsome Jonah Reardon, who doesn't believe Nora has taken Mindy, Nora will start putting the pieces together of this jigsaw puzzle that is her own memory.
You see Nora...can't remember parts of her own childhood as well.
Something happened and now...will another child have to go through an emotional turmoil if no one can find Mindy?
We of course have a pool of other characters to be the one responsible for kidnapping Mindy and terrorizing Nora and you don't really know which one it could be even if it is written that most of the students who work at the campus daycare center adore the little girl and seem doubtful at first of Nora's innocence.
As I was reading, I could recall who was the kidnapper the moment the name appeared but Hoh is really good at keeping us in the dark until the reveal.
The climax is filled with tension and the ending is as happy as you can get yet tinged with sadness on the edges. The very last line we get is enough to make you breathe a little more steady and even smile or laugh with a tear in your eye.
It isn't really a spoiler but there is a scene where Mindy's father stops by to ask Nora where his daughter is. I can imagine the man going out of his mind with his wife being sick and his daughter missing so it clouds his judgment.
He doesn't believe Nora and he came over with all of the stuffed animals Nora had given his daughter. Professor Donner throws them back at Nora and says he doesn't want them in his house just as her fellow co-workers show up to check on her.
I feel bad for him and for Nora in that moment and it has always stuck with me. I guess because I could relate with Nora way back when as being accused of something awful and having no one believe me.
I still do but now I can also understand Mindy's father and his distress.
If you have not read this installment of Nightmare Hall, Kidnapped is a really good book I would recommend. A heads up to anyone who may be a person who knows someone or hopefully was not themselves kidnapped as a child may need a word of caution.
This book doesn't deal with ghosts or vampires or any fictional monster - it tackles heavy issues of real monsters out there.
August 13, 2024
The story was good - but the back and forth from the kidnappers view was boring and too much of it - and in italics. Also, Nora was pretty stupid throughout the book.
Read
October 9, 2009Kidnapped (Nightmare Hall) by Diane Hoh (1995)
August 13, 2024
This one did take place at Nightmare Hall. It was alright, but I did guess quite quickly who the sister was.
March 4, 2018
It was extremely obvious from the start what the bad person’s motive was, so it kind of took the fun and mystery out of things. Basically, this book was less about the twist and more about just trying to guess who the person was. I guess I have to give props on that part though because I’m always wrong about the culprit when it comes to this series.
The story itself was ok. Some of the events were pretty ridiculous. The weird jealousy Nora’s co-workers had towards her for being really close to this three year old girl was dumb as hell. It felt like a strange jump to me that everyone was instantly convinced that Nora was some monster who would abduct a child. I found myself thinking that they were going to owe Nora a huge apology for the way they treated her.
Also, the amount of times that Nora was attacked by the mysterious person was near Nancy Drew-being-knocked-out levels. After the third time it happened, I couldn’t really take the whole situation too seriously. I didn’t understand either why the cops had absolutely zero response. Like, the entire book took place in a day or two, so you’d think the cops would take some action if Nora’s getting terrorized by some psycho so frequently.
The story itself was ok. Some of the events were pretty ridiculous. The weird jealousy Nora’s co-workers had towards her for being really close to this three year old girl was dumb as hell. It felt like a strange jump to me that everyone was instantly convinced that Nora was some monster who would abduct a child. I found myself thinking that they were going to owe Nora a huge apology for the way they treated her.
Also, the amount of times that Nora was attacked by the mysterious person was near Nancy Drew-being-knocked-out levels. After the third time it happened, I couldn’t really take the whole situation too seriously. I didn’t understand either why the cops had absolutely zero response. Like, the entire book took place in a day or two, so you’d think the cops would take some action if Nora’s getting terrorized by some psycho so frequently.
March 6, 2018
Lame.
November 18, 2007
Well, this book took forever to get through. I guess because it was so boring. I know that the author was attempting to make the book interesting by adding so many twists to the plot, I must say that she did the exact opposite. No book needs two twists to the plot in every single chapter. I guess if you can keep up with the change of views randomly throughout the boook then good for you. You probably enjoy this book, however I did not. (note the low score)
The plot was good, somebody being kidnapped as a child and becoming a kidnapper as an adult. It would be better with less flash backs of the main characters sister, however they were added and that was what made thee book confusing. Eliminating much of the flashbacks and double personalities would help the reader of this book extremely.
I usually really enjoy reading, however this book was a headache conveinently packed into 200+ pages.
I wish there was more to say, but when you don't enjoy a book, it makes it really hard to talk about.
Diane Hoh is normally a good author, as I have read other of her books, however this book was a dissapointment to me becasue of my intrest's in her other books.
Would I recommend this book...No, probably not.
The plot was good, somebody being kidnapped as a child and becoming a kidnapper as an adult. It would be better with less flash backs of the main characters sister, however they were added and that was what made thee book confusing. Eliminating much of the flashbacks and double personalities would help the reader of this book extremely.
I usually really enjoy reading, however this book was a headache conveinently packed into 200+ pages.
I wish there was more to say, but when you don't enjoy a book, it makes it really hard to talk about.
Diane Hoh is normally a good author, as I have read other of her books, however this book was a dissapointment to me becasue of my intrest's in her other books.
Would I recommend this book...No, probably not.
August 17, 2011
The book was pretty good my friend said it gave her nightmares but I didn't think it was that scary. I was really hoping for something scarier then what it was but overall the book was good.
June 28, 2023
Queen of thrillers. To me.
Read
August 20, 2017Such a good book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews