Stolen in the Night

by Patricia MacDonald

What really happened that night?
They said he killed her sister.
They lied.

TWENTY YEARS AGO.

Tess’s heart pounds and she rubs her eyes, wondering if she is really awake or in a nightmare. Her sister Phoebe’s blue eyes are wide with fear, a dirty hand with ragged fingernails covering her mouth. Pressed against Phoebe’s neck is a knife that makes a dent in her skin.

“If you make one peep or tell anybody, I’ll kill your sister here. Do you understand me?” the man hisses at her.

Nine-year-old Tess DeGraff is the only witness to the knife-point kidnapping of her teenage sister, Phoebe, at the beautiful lakeside New Hampshire campsite where she’s staying with their parents and brother.

Phoebe’s body is found two days later and a local offender is arrested. The trial lasts only three days after Tess describes the abductor and points to him in court.

NOW.

Tess has finally got herself together. She has a beautiful home and her ten-year-old son is the light of her life.

But new DNA evidence exonerates her sister’s killer. Tess is left questioning everything she thinks she knows. If he didn’t do it, who did?

Tess must go back to where it all happened and find out what really went on that night.

And the truth can be very dangerous . . .

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Crime

340 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 29, 2007

About the author

Librarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Patricia MacDonald is the author of several psychological suspense novels set in small towns. MacDonald grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut and has a master's degree from Boston College. Before writing her own novels she was a book editor and was once an editor for a soap opera magazine in New York. She is married to writer Art Bourgeau. They live in Cape May, New Jersey and have one daughter.

Her first novel, The Unforgiven, published in 1981, received an Edgar Award nomination from the Mystery Writers of America. Secret Admirer (1995) won the literary prize at the 1997 Deauville Film Festival in France, where MacDonald is consistently a number one bestseller. She’s also been awarded the prize for literature at the International Forum of Cinema and Literature in Monaco.

Reviews

[Lori Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great ideas for a mysterious plot, but there were so many ridiculously absurd sections that I just wanted to finish reading it so I could move onto something better.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoiler alerts....

The author extends the plot by having characters repeatedly make the wrong decision, jump to Another New Emotionally Driven conclusion about Yet Another Person's Guilt....which leads to yet another unfortunate death of an innocent person....but let's move onto the next plot point.
Shall I mention that several characters are fine with letting a young kid who has experienced massive trauma earlier in life to run around by himself in the woods, by lakes....in an area where a killer has not been identified?

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty interesting mystery. The book kept me wondering the entire time who the killer really was. While the identity of the real killer was a surprise, the reasoning behind it was lacking and made the book end on such a lackluster note. The book would be a full 4/5 stars if it was not for the ending.
3.5/5

[Mojca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Twenty years ago, Tess DeGraff's older sister, Phoebe, was kidnapped from her tent, raped and brutally murdered. The only witness, Tess, recognized the man who snatched her sister, and Lazarus Abbott was sentenced to death.

Now, the DNA tests of the samples found on Phoebe's body reveal it wasn't Lazarus who murdered her and Tess is faced with the shocking realization she'd sent an innocent man to die...


Yes, judging from the back-cover blurb Patricia MacDonald should be a wonderful author, but trust me, the heiress-apparent to Mary Higgins Clark she is not.

Why?

Because the blurb is one thing and the book another. While the initial premise offers so may different angles to the story, the author chooses the most slow-moving plot of them all.

The so-called plot twists are botched up and laughable at best, the perp is evident from the first time we meet him and the main character, the one females are supposed to identify with and feel compassion for comes off too one-dimensional to make us even bother to care what happens to her.

Tess seems to be stuck at the emotional level of when her sister was kidnapped - the emotional level of a nine-year-old. She's judgmental, stubborn, prone to tantrums, draws (wrong) conclusions on a drop of a dime and never thinks before speaking. Which makes her ten-year-old adopted son the more mature of the two.

The male "lead" is a bit too of a second character to be noticed, although I suspect the author chose him in a feeble attempt at creating a romantic-subplot, that unfortunately fell through. I though the tidbit about his dead wife was completely unnecessary and just another plot-stopper more.

There are two things that made me absolutely cringe, though. One was the author's shameless exploitation of the small-town stereotypes.
But the worst one was the fact every single character with a "speaking role" at least once in the story appeared hysterical - I absolutely abhorred the ruthless and REPETITIVE abuse of the word "cry" (as in " to speak so as to be heard at a distance").


If you're looking for a thriller fix, search elsewhere. If you're only looking for something to help you sleep (a substitute for a sleeping pill), this is the stuff for you.

[Debbie Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A family camping trip in New Hampshire with a horrible outcome. Tess is a little girl and the only witness to her sister’s abduction. Fast forward 20 years and Tess is living and working in D.C. She has a 10 year old adopted son and they go back to her home town where the abduction occurred and a local man was convicted and put to death. They want to be there for the reading of the DNA evidence proving that the man who was executed was truly the one who committed the crime. You can see where this is going and there are a lot of twists along the way. This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I will definitely be reading more by her.

[Carlo Hublet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Déception. J'avais pourtant apprécié une bonne moitié du bouquin, peut-être même un peu plus. Ensuite, cela vire en un pénible mélodrame invraisemblable, les acteurs, crédibles longtemps, parfois un peu fougueux, mais la tension l'explique, ces acteurs se mettent à se comporter dans les instants qui devraient être dramatiques, oppressants, comme s'ils discutaient en buvant un thé dans un salon. Le réalisme se mue en blablas invraisemblables.

[edward philo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I FELT

The writing is very poor. Every single page has the word “felt” in it. She felt sad. He felt wobbly. She felt tired…exhausted…lost…relieved…confused. This is just juvenile writing. I live reading show don’t tell narrative. I also found some of the dialogue odd. won’t be reading more from this author

[Donna Mallery · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written book. At times I thought it might read a little slow, but that is because it is so descriptive. A little girl sees her sister being snatched away from her and is later found dead. The girl is able to describe the attacker who is subsequently convicted and put to death. Twenty years later, new facts emerge. Was he really the killer? And if not, who is? We are introduced to a wide range of characters who may or may not be as they seem. As we roller coaster towards the end, there are many twists and reveals. A satisfying read!

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay book . Not the best from the author in my opinion but it was okay

[Melissa Towner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a fantastic read. My attention was held from the start, and all the way through. I recommend this book.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel by Patricia Macdonald kept me guessing all the way through it as to who killed 13 year old Phoebe DeGraff. Her nine year old sister identified the person who cut a hole in their tent and took Phoebe away, but 20 years later, after the alleged perpetrator was executed, DNA showed that he did not kill the girl. In fact, only some of the DNA matched, and it was not in the CODIS system, so the book kept me guessing. Since the novel took place in a small town in New Hampshire, many of the people (especially the year around residents) knew each other, so it was difficult for me to guess and then guess again. However, the motive for the young girl's rape and murder was the most sickening thing of all. After the news about the DNA proving that the state executed the wrong man, Tess, Phoebe's sister, and her adopted son go back to the small town where her mother now lives alone and not only does Tess risk her life to find the killer, she also finds romance for the first time in her life. I enjoyed this book very much.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic thriller!

When Tess DeGraff was 9, she went camping with her family in New Hampshire. During this trip, her sister, Phoebe, was kidnapped and killed. Thanks to Tess's eyewitness testimony, a man named Lazarus Abbott was convicted and put to death for the crime.

Fast forward 20 years . . . DNA testing reveals that Abbott was not Phoebe's killer. Driven by the fear that she may have sent an innocent man to his death, Tess and her adopted son, Erny (pronounced Air-Nee), return to the NH town where everything happened.

It is a race against time to untangle the truth about her sister's murder and the fast pace of the story really keeps you on your toes in trying to figure out who the real guilty party is!

[Zézinha Rosado · Rating 5 out of 5]

História viciante que nos deixa agarrada ao livro e não nos dá descanso enquanto não chegamos à última página.
Uma mistura muito interessante de personagens, interligando o passado com o presente e fazendo com que se descubram segredos impensáveis, cujo desfecho ninguém poderia imaginar.
Se há autoras talhadas para escrever bons policiais, esta é uma delas... uma leitura 5 estrelas.

[Zackary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre writing at best. Difficult to care about the storyline or characters.

[Jessica Webber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tess DeGraff was the sole witness to an unimaginable tragedy when she was a kid. Her sister Phoebe was abducted at knife point right in front of her. 2 days later, Phoebe is found dead in a ditch. Tess’s testimony leads to the arrest and ultimately, the execution, of a local known pedophile, Lazarus Abbott.

20 years later, Lazarus’s mom Edith has DNA evidence retested in an attempt to clear her son’s name. Was Tess wrong? Was Lazarus innocent? If so, there is still a rapist/murderer on the loose…

This story was captivating from the first chapter! There wasn’t one point the entire time that I got bored or lost interest. The characters were relatable and the emotions were real. There were times I almost cried along with Tess. And I definitely didn’t see the ending coming. I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves suspense!

[Kim Bakos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book! There were plenty of suspects to keep you guessing until the end, and a few that you didn't suspect as well. The book also went a little deeper than the standard mystery in that it dealt with the after-effects to a family when they suffer the loss of a child/sibling. The issue of capital punishment also factored into the story as well.
Tess has to deal w/ the guilt of having wrongly convicted the suspected abductor and killer of her sister. She was only nine when it happened, so isn't sure if she can trust her memories. Others doubt her even more than she doubts herself.
She isn't the only one in danger by her quest to find the real killer - her son is put at risk as well (brownie points for introducing interracial adoption!).
Love that there isn't foul language, gory descriptions of crime scenes, or descriptive love scenes.

[Daniela Maciel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A leitura é bastante dinâmica, não há descrições exageradas e a ação decorre a bom ritmo. Não foi um dos meus preferidos da autora, mas não deixa de ser uma leitura que entretém e nos espicaça a vontade de desvendar o crime.

Opinião completa: http://quandoseabreumlivro.blogspot.p...

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars! I did not predict the killer so that was good. The story seemed far-fetched and corny, hence the star rating. A good story, easy read. Enjoyable main characters. The love story portion was a bit misplaced but overall I enjoyed it.

[Robert Burleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book lots of twists . I never would have thought it turned out that way . Great book loved

[Justine Sicard · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5⭐️

[gizou · Rating 2 out of 5]

tous les perso sont DÉBILES.
la justification pr le meurtre ..…. bof.
scènes de romance extrêmement malaisantes et pas nécessaires …

[Kathleen Hagen]

Stolen in the Night, by Patricia MacDonald. B-plus.
Downloaded from audible.com.
A family goes camping on vacation. There are three children: Jake, Phoebe, and Tess. Jake, a teenager, sneaks away to a dance in town with others he has just met. He was supposed to stay in the tent to protect his two sisters. Tess awakes as someone cuts the tent with a knife and grabs Phoebe, telling Tess that if she says anything Phoebe will be killed. So Tess lies awake scared to death until Jake finally sneaks back in and finds the tent ripped and Phoebe gone. Then Tess tells about the man she saw take Phoebe away. She staunchly testified at every turn as to what the man looked like. A couple of days later, Phoebe’s body is found. The man she identified went on trial and was convicted and put to death. Then, twenty years later, his mother having always protested his innocence, she finally gets the state to agree to review the existing evidence in light of current DNA probabilities, and the tests determine that Phoebe’s rapist and killer’s DNA did not match that of the man who was executed. Tess, the only witness, is blamed by the town and accused of lying about the identity of the convicted man. But Tess is convinced that she was not wrong in her identification. Tess must find a way to incorporate what would seem two conflicting theories, that she had identified the right man for the kidnapping of her sister, but he might not have been her murderer. This is a somewhat lighter read than I usually expect from MacDonald, really more like a Mary Higgins Clark novel. But it was a good and fast read and lighter than other things I’ve read recently.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. From reading other reviews, it seems like other people figured out "who dun it" way before I did, but that is ok. I like being surprised and I don't try TOO hard to figure things out early. The only negative aspect was the fact I "read" this as an audiobook and 3 of the discs were scratched up, two of which were the last two CDs, which is where a good part of the action happened and where all was revealed. I think I am going to start making more of an effort to avoid audio CDs and go for the digital audio books that I can listen to through my phone or tablet and the aux jack in my car.

That said, the story starts out with Tess and her sister, Phoebe, camping with their family. Tess witnesses her sister's abduction, and then the story fast-forwards to the future and Tess, as an adult, is going back to where her sister's abduction and murder happened to hear the results of some new DNA evidence that ends up revealing that the guy Tess accused of the abduction and murder was innocent.

The lawyer that represents the falsely accused family ends up falling for Tess, and then strange things start happening. Someone is killed, her adopted son is abducted, she goes in search for him and then all is revealed. The story twists and turns, which is fun, but at times it got tiring because every time she had the slightest inkling of who MIGHT have done it, she acted as if she KNEW that is who did it and proceeded as though she had all the facts and there could be no doubt. Of course, she was wrong, a few times. A wild goose chase or red herring ONCE in a story, is plenty.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a great deal and liked the protagonist, Tess. This book is not a deep or profound work, but it is a fun, diversionary read for a summer day. I did not figure out whodunit until it was revealed, and have to admit I doubt those critics who say they did figure it out long before since there was a critical impossibility that had to be accounted for first.

The part of the book I did find frustrating was the suggestion 10-year-old Ernie gave to Tess on how she could be right and how lab results could also be right. Ernie's suggestion was blatantly obvious, and the first hypothesis I considered. It is difficult to believe it could not have occurred to anyone else either for such a long time. The failure of all parties to consider the possibility made for a slow, frustrating beginning that almost caused me to stop reading. However, nothing else in the plot was so obvious to me.

So, the book as a whole worked for me, despite being a bit melodramatic for my taste, and the ending was tremendously exciting. The book worked so well for me that I looked at Books-A-Million for another Patricia MacDonald book in order to buy one. To my great surprise, they were selling none. Is this a beginning author? I went to Wikipedia. No author page. Yet, Reader's Digest books thinks enough of her work to summarize one of them for their series. I have just gone to the local library and saw four Patricia MacDonald books on the shelf. And this library is tiny too! Oh happy day. From Cradle to Grave then will be my next MacDonald read.

[Teresa mcgaha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can find no fault with this book. When Tess was 9 her family went on a camping trip that forever changed their lives. Terror reigns down when a madman, cuts the tent and takes her older sister from them. Twenty years later the case is reopened since DNA can now be tested. The governor is strong anti death penalty and when the unthinkable happens Tess's world explodes again into dismay. Macdonald writes a tight pychological thriller that showcases how this tradegy not only affected the family but the town as well. There are many clues presented that can give you different theorys on the truth of this case. When I got to the end, the ending supported the clues that was revealant to the ending. Lately I have finished books with an ending that didn't make sense or the plot didn't make it plausible. Not this time, strong plot, defined characters and an ending that kept the plot together.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The better part of the book occurs in the second half when Tess starts digging for the truth behind the death of her sister when DNA proves that the man her testimony helped convict, didn't match his DNA. This man eventually ended up a victim of the death penalty. I had wrongly believed I knew who the real perp was and didn't figure it out correctly until much later in the book when it began unraveling. I too could find myself like Tess in assuming something to be true because of its seeming fit.

The first half of the book seemed to drag because I had wanted something more. I had briefly considered giving up on it until I went back to read the synopsis, and that alone made me hang on. When Tess starts delving into her own detecting at the wisdom of her 10-year old son, I was glad I continued.

For someone who likes books with likable characters, this probably isn't the book for you. None of the characters were particularly likable except perhaps Tess' 10-year old son.

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book a bit. Tess, a documentary film maker, returns to Vermont, where her sister was abducted years ago. Tess was the witness that fingered the murderer who was executed. But now the mother of the murderer asks for DNA evidence to be examined and the murderer is vindicated. Tess is vilified, and finally figures out there were an accomplice, and she runs after every possible suspect, and falls in love with Ben, an opposing attorney. It’s pretty formulaic, but the Vermont setting is sweet, and you sort of like Tess, and of course she gets in situations fearing for her life.

[Boots S · Rating 2 out of 5]

My rating is actually 2-1/2 stars
Nine year old Tess' sister is snatched from their tent while camping with their family and is later found murdered. . With Tess' definite description of the kidnapper, the police chief narrows in on a suspect. He is arrested, tried and eventually executed. Years later DNA proves he was not the killer and Tess is torn between what she thought she remembered and the proof that she must have been mistaken. Tess returns to the town where the family had camped and tries to sort out the facts.

[Vina · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Stolen in the Night’ by Patricia MacDonald was an intriguing book, with a fresh story line. But somewhere about the last one-third of the book, sorry to say the writer seems to have lost the plot.Red herrings are the mainstay of mysteries. But there is a thing called too much of a good thing. And there goes the parcel from one to another, to another. Again, I think once the mystery is solved, it is preferable not to have pages and pages and pages. You have lost the reader, and he moves away.

2.5 Stars

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nine-year-old Tess McGraff witnessed the kidnapping of her older sister and testified in court, causing Lazarus Abbott to get the death penalty. Now, even though new DNA tests exonerate him, Tess insists she didn't make a mistake, digging up old memories to get to the truth.

Another solid suspense offering from MacDonald. Lots of red herrings thrown in to keep you guessing. Highly recommend.