Never Wave Goodbye

by Doug Magee

After passing the bittersweet parental milestone of putting her daughter, Sarah on the bus to sleep-away camp for the first time, Lena Trainor plans to spend the next two weeks fixing all the problems in her marriage. But when a second bus arrives to pick up Sarah for camp, no one seems to know anything about the first bus or its driver.

Sarah and three other children have been kidnapped, and within hours of the crime the parents receive an email demanding $1,000,000. When the specifics of the delivery terms throw suspicion on the parents of two of the abducted children, some of the parents begin to turn on each other, exposing fault lines in already strained marriages and forging new alliances. While the kidnapped children are living their parents' worst nightmare, the police are trying to sort the lies from the truth in conflicting stories and alibis that seem to be constantly changing.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Audiobook, Suspense, Thriller Suspense, Adult

308 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2010

About the author

I'm a writer, photographer, and filmmaker living in New York's East Harlem. I am the author of the novels Never Wave Goodbye and Darkness All Around (both Touchstone/Simon and Schuster). My new novel, President Blog, will be out as an ebook on January 24th, 2016

Reviews

[Jessica (BlogEared Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick question: Do the cover artists read the books they design for? Do the authors approve the covers before they go live? I’m embarrassed to admit that covers do matter to me (I swear I’m not really shallow- just detailed oriented) And this cover did not work with the story.
I also had a problem with the front cover quote. RL Stine said “Don’t get on the bus-unless you’re looking for a terrifying read.” Now, I know RL Stine- and I equate him with thrillers or horror books. And he said that this was a terrifying read- so this must be a pretty scary book right? Nope. In fact, I’m pretty sure this quote was for something else and the clueless cover artist decided to just add it.
Clueless because the kids in the book get on a van headed to camp. NOT a bus. I understand that a picture of a school bus elicits certain emotions but if it doesn’t go with the story line- don’t include it. The same goes with the quote- “Don’t get on the bus….” There is NO bus!!
Once I got past these aesthetic flaws (have I really gotten past them?) I could focus on the story. Ok, no I can’t focus on the story. I’m still really stuck on the packaging. The back cover says “….four couples to betray their darkest secrets….” Now, this sounds interesting. Darkest secrets, all 4 couples? That’s gotta be good. Nope. No great dark secrets- one family had a dark secret and the others were thrown in for some fake and transparent mystery.
As a mom, I immediately latched on to this book. In fact, I moved it up on my list because I could see how invested I could be in this story line. 4 children are picked up for camp by kidnappers posing as camp counselors. They are taken up to a cabin high in the Adirondacks where no one will find them. The problem was that it was all so textbook. I was shocked when one of the kids didn’t forget his inhaler or go into a diabetic coma- this book had me anticipating the same old story line after just a few pages.
The mastermind behind the kidnapping was not a huge surprise. I’ll be honest, I didn’t see it coming, but I wasn’t surprised when it did. I just plodded through the book and didn’t really try to figure out who it was. Overall, it was a good idea, a very easy and simple read, but really left me wanting more.
I do have “Darkness all around” on my to- read list and will read it. Overall I think Doug Magee is a good author; the book and the inconsistent cover just fell flat for me.

[Catrinka · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this book was fine. Four young kids (about 9-10 yo) are kidnapped by a father/son team posing realistically as members of the camp the kids are to be attending. The kidnappers arrive earlier than the legitimate pick-up time and have a logo on their own kidnapping van and wearing camp t-shirts. Nothing seems amiss until the real camp van shows up to get the kids.

We know these two guys are just the middlemen -- the ones hired to do the dirty work of taking the kids. What we don't learn until later in the book is who orchestrated the event for the ransom.

I was close to giving this 3 stars because it did keep my interest enough to finish it, but I had LOTS of issues with it. The storyline focuses on one of the families and their kidnapped daughter, Sarah. That mom's reaction in the beginning and the delay (however small) in alerting authorities drove me crazy. I'm sorry, but if I stuck my young child on a van with strangers and then realized minutes later (when the real van showed up) that something was wrong, I'd be immediately calling the police. AND immediately calling the other parents on the pick-up list so that their poor kids wouldn't be picked up by the kidnappers, too.

The part that bugged me the most, though, was Sarah's dad. He was a total dick -- lying to his wife (and initially the police) about his whereabouts, job situation, and his affair with a woman who even he worried might be involved in the kidnapping. His supposedly intelligent physician wife NEVER caught on and they continued as one big happy family to the end. But because this guy quietly worried over his mistakes, we were supposed to like him. My biggest amusement was in the later part of the book when this dad joins a search party in the vast Adirondack Mountains in search of the kids and, all alone in the middle of nowhere, he turns his GPS off! Because he wanted to just use his instincts and FEEL where his daughter was, doncha know! So lame, but it did give me a chuckle. My hope was that the other searchers would find the children and this jerk of a dad would find himself totally lost and eaten by a bear.

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was AWFUL! The idea of the plot was decent enough, and that is why I picked it up. However, the writing was horrendous. I wrote better than this in 6th grade, and really, I am no writer. Other books with horrible writing (I'm talking to you, Twilight) make me cringe and want to look away, but this book took it to another level. I was grinding my teeth and yelling at the author while I read. Besides that, he left loose strings at the end -- not intentionally -- I think he just "forgot" about certain hints or plot lines he had mentioned earlier in the book. I cannot figure out how this book got published.

[Eles Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was okay with this book until it started winding down. There were a few things that annoyed me throughout. *** A few spoilers follow*** I didn't understand why there was so much explanation of each family of the children being weepy and teary-eyed for their kids to go to camp when some of them had gone the year before. It seemed like a bit of overkill for all families to have the same cookie cut out of being so distraught to send their kids to camp. Also, the author was redundant in explaining Lena's emotions of being "hollow" and "empty". I tired of the amount of chapters he spent explaining the melodrama of her feelings. I was no longer sympathizing with her, but rather getting annoyed by her. And the part that really ruined the entire book for me were the hints at clairvoyance. First, with Lena "seeing" her grandmother and then with her helping Sarah out of the woods through telepathy. Huh? What happened? I didn't like that turn from the author and took my 3 star review down to 2.

[Marcyprz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out great and moved pretty fast, but once I got 3/4 of the way through it became LONG, drawn out, and predictable.

[Jette · Rating 5 out of 5]

spannend tot de laatste bladzijde!

[Michele Bowkunowicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://lostgirlygirl.blogspot.com.br/...

Never Wave Goodbye by Doug Magee is a thriller that keeps you reading into the wee hours of the morning just so you can find out what happens in the end. Imagine putting your child on a bus for her first away from home camping trip -you’re already nervous and scared to let her go – then imagine waving goodbye and then… another bus coming to pick up your daughter…

This is exactly what happens to Lena Trainor when she puts her nine-year-old daughter Sarah on the bus for Camp Arno. The young man driving the bus, J.D., seems friendly and is very good at putting Sarah at ease so Lena feels pretty comfortable letting her go. There are a few little things that she really doesn’t think about until later that should have made her a little wary but being preoccupied these things weren’t significant enough to really grab her attention. The bus leaves to pick up three more children and Lena goes inside to finish up with things. Not to long after a second bus comes to pick up her daughter. Lena is beside herself – who was that then that just picked up her daughter and took her away?

A parent’s worst nightmare! The four kids have been kidnapped. Where are they? Who took them? Why were they taken? Can it be that one of these parents sitting in front of Lena are responsible in some way? So many questions and Lena has answers for none of them. To make matters worse things aren’t the best between her and her husband, David. The time Sarah was away was to have been a time for them to hopefully repair their relationship and now it’s just full of accusations; each wondering if the other wasn’t responsible in some way.

The parent’s receive an email demanding a one million dollar ransom. As the story evolves we start to learn more about the parents and begin to wonder if one of them might not have set this up themselves. But they couldn’t have — who would have their own child kidnapped for the sake of getting money? Everyone is looking at everyone else and wondering if any of them can be trusted. With the ongoing investigation, we learn that everyone has their secrets and we’re taken on a roller coaster of twists and turns with still no clue as to who has committed this crime. And all along Lena is wondering if she’ll ever hold her little girl again.

This story is told mostly through Lena and then alternates with chapters of the kids. I liked Lena as a character and her daughter Sarah is certainly an independent, spunky little girl.
The sections when we see into the minds of the kidnappers is downright creepy – how people can justify things to themselves is scary indeed.

I was hooked on this story from the first chapter because of course I had to know how they would get the children back or if they would and I finished it quickly. The only thing I wish had been different was the ending – it felt a bit rushed to me and I thought it could have been done a little differently but again a very minor complaint. Never Wave Goodbye is a fast-paced thriller that will have you flipping those pages in a hurry – a great debut novel from Doug Magee.

[L.E. Fraser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four families happily send their children to summer camp for a fun adventure. But the van that picks up the nine-year-old kids is not from the camp. When the authentic driver arrives, the awful truth emerges. An unknown assailant has kidnapped the children. As the four families try to work with the police and FBI, secrets emerge that put suspicion on everyone.

The POV is confusing. Although it appears to be third-person multiple, it slips between characters during a single scene. This makes some of the storytelling awkward, as the reader has to shift perspectives mid-scene.

The key character, Lena Trainor, is the mother of one of the missing girls, Sarah. Although an engaging character, Lena’s early interaction with another victim’s mother is judgmental and apathetic. It feels implausible because Lena is an Oncologist and the other woman clearly has emotional issues. However, Magee delineates Lena’s turmoil, guilt, and fear for her daughter indirectly and that style creates a slow simmering sense of distress for the reader. The emotional web in which Lena finds herself quickly catches the reader.

The four children have very different personalities, and that literary device feels contrived for the sake of uniqueness. The one thing they all share—including the intellectual boy—is an unbelievable lack of technological awareness. Although the intention is to build suspense, it’s improbable given their ages and backgrounds. Scenes depicting local police trying to discern what an IP address is and how it factors into the FBI’s investigation compounds this issue. However, the key officer in the investigation is a sympathetic character with a well-developed personality.

The structure of the first half of the novel is excellent. The inciting event is engaging and flows smoothly to the mid-point twist. Magee deftly paces revelations, and the characters’ responding emotions escalates the tension. There are sufficient inconsistencies among the characters’ stories that the reader has a bevy of suspects. The writing is tight and intense, and the suspense is present. But the climax and conclusion of the novel leaves too many open-ended questions. Without an explanation for the third-person POV thoughts introduced in earlier scenes, they become dissatisfying deflection. Lena’s father’s backstory fizzles out, leaving the reader to question the relevance. The subplot of a kidnapped victim’s banker father dangles without justification. The psychic linking is unnecessary to the conclusion and the epilogue is disjointed and superfluous.

The first two Acts are first-rate, and the psychological portrayal of Lena Trainor is good. She is flawed and disagreeable at times, but it’s an honest picture of a mother’s guilt and stress. Cutting unresolved happenstances, tightening the structure of Act 3, and adjusting the children’s characters to age-appropriate behavior would have increased this to a solid 4*.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seem to be reading books lately that I'm having split opinions on, this book isn't going to be any different in that regard. I'm in love with the premise of the book. As a parent, I can't imagine what it would be like to entrust your child into the hands of someone you thought you could trust, only to have them disappear with no hope of being found. When the camp van arrives to pick Sarah up, Lena had no idea the polite young man was not who he claimed to be. He had all the paperwork, even made Lena sign some consent forms and was able to answer all her questions. He mad Sarah feel at ease about not going to soccer camp instead. So when the real van shows up later on that morning and she finds out the last 3 kids on the stop are also missing, Lena's nightmare is just starting.

The fear and blame that Lena and the other parents must feel has to be gut wrenching. The self doubt and mistrust could only make the situation worse. At least I would think it would. While those emotions are mentioned and somewhat explored in the book, I would have liked to have had the author delve into it a little bit more. I wanted to feel the pain and anguish as I'm reading the book, and while I could mentally understand what the parents were going through, I couldn't feel it. My heart didn't start beating any faster nor did my pulse race at any time while I was reading. I wanted more suspense and I wanted to physically feel the aftermath of what took place, and while the ingredients are there, it didn't quite work on that visceral level.

I think part of the issue, for me at least, was the way the author kept splitting points of view. We see the story from the parents, children, kidnappers, and police points of view and for some reason they just don't all mesh that well. The going back and forth felt almost to frantic at times, as if the author was using the story telling technique to explore the fear and emotional turmoil, instead of the story itself. It didn't allow me to really connect with any of the characters on a basic level. I liked them and was rooting for them, but in the end I knew it was a book, that it wasn't real, and that every thing would work out in the end. I never got lost in the story, which is a pity. As a parent, I should have been grabbed by the story and the characters, I should have been imagining myself in that position, but I never did. I was entertained and I enjoyed it as a book, but I never really connected.

Now with all that being said, I'm still pleased to have read the book. It was entertaining and kept me reading a long because despite feeling disappointed, I still wanted to know how it all turned out and who was responsible to for such a horrific action. Besides this book did accomplish one thing for me, I will now be double checking everything before I ever let my son go off to a sleep away camp.

[Jim Thomsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a rare novel that can start off as well as "Never Wave Goodbye" ... and finish just as strongly. Even more rare now that Doug Magee's debut novel, like many before it, ran out of storytelling juice in the final pages.

But up until then ... wow. I felt like I was in the hands of one of the most self-assured debut authors I'd read in a long time. It's got an ingenious setup, wonderfully cranked tension and suspense and some well-timed twists — all rendered in a slick and supremely confident fast-forward style.

The story: Sarah, the 9-year-old only child of Westchester, N.Y. couple Lena and David Trainor, gets on a bus to go to a two-week summer camp — but Lena is shocked when the real camp bus arrives 15 minutes later. Sarah and three other kids have been kidnapped. The next several days pass agonizingly as the affected families snipe among themselves and the shadow of suspicion — warranted and otherwise — touches over all.

For about 80 percent of the story, this works perfectly — I had no idea who might be the shadowy mastermind behind the abduction. Could it be the cheating husband and the other woman who's determined to assert control? Could it be the contractor who's hit hard times in the recession? Or the banker who might have some financial indiscretions to conceal? I honestly could not guess, as Magee expertly plays the reader without tipping his hand. And the reveal is a genuine shocker, and a fairly satisfying one.

But there are still big resolutions to come, and it's here that Magee gives up on storytelling based on logic and reason, and instead lets his characters — big and small — act on cliched intuition. It amounts to a giant deus ex machina — a god in the machine — that allows contrivance to carry the day over coherent plotting. It's emotionally satisfying to readers who are parents, I imagine, but to me it just seemed empty and anticlimactic — all the more so because it left the main character out of the big payoff scene.

Another irritant, while I'm at it: The slippery shifts in points of view in "Never Wave Goodbye." For the most part, the story is told from Lena Trainor's POV, but the voice often shifts abruptly, from one paragraph to the next without any line breaks, into the POV of a secondary character. It's quite jarring, and feels like it's done primarily to put red-herring plot points in play than out of any desire by the author to let us really get to know these people. For the most part, the stories of the secondary characters are abruptly and unsatisfyingly dead-ended.

Overall, however, I admired Magee's skill at spinning genuine suspense, and would be more than willing to check out whatever he'll publish next.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never wave goodbye started out with a really scary story. Four kids picked up for a summer camp, who were really picked up by a kidnapper. I looked forward to reading this book, but was dissapointed by the way the story left hints and suggestions that were never followed through. The ending was too contrived and left me dissapointed with the whole book.

[YellowBlackKing · Rating 3 out of 5]

„Schöne Ferien“ begann direkt im Geschehen mit der Abholung von Lenas Tochter Sarah, die zwei Wochen ihrer Ferien in Camp Rondo verbringen sollte. Nur wenige Seiten später stellte sich jedoch der Schock ein: Erneut klingelten Mitarbeiter des Sommercamps an der Tür, womit sich J.D., der erste Mann, als Hochstapler herausstellte. Ich mochte den Einstieg sehr gern, leider konnte die vorgelegte Spannung allerdings nicht aufrechterhalten werden.
Der auf dem Cover abgebildete typisch amerikanische Schulbus kam in der Geschichte überhaupt nicht vor, da Camp Rondo die Kinder mit einem normalen Kleinbus abzuholen pflegte, und die Sommercamp-Lüge wurde nach den ersten hundert Seiten kaum noch thematisiert, stattdessen folgte die Handlung dem Plot einer klassischen Entführungs-Story mit abgelegener Waldhütte als Versteck sowie trauernden Eltern zu Hause. Mich enttäuschte das ein wenig, ich hatte mir den Roman nämlich ein wenig anders – mehr mit Fokus auf die ursprüngliche Idee – vorgestellt.
Der Satz des Klappentexts, in dem erwähnt wird, dass eine Suchmannschaft die erste Leiche findet, weckt zudem völlig falsche Erwartungen, denn jenes passiert erst fünfzig Seiten vor Schluss und ist (SPOILER) keines der Kinder, sondern bloß ihr unter abstrusen Umständen – dazu gleich mehr – umgekommener Entführer Mr. Everett, dessen Ableben der Polizei bereits vorher bekannt gewesen war. (SPOILER ENDE)
Im Mittelteil erlangte die Polizei kaum neue Erkenntnisse; die meiste Zeit las man irgendwelche Konferenzen der vier betroffenen Elternpaare oder Sarahs betrübte Gedanken. Langweilig war das nicht – tatsächlich kam ich schnell und ohne Längen durch das Buch –, doch genauso wenig besonders spannend. Es gab eine Perspektive der entführten Kinder sowie des einen Kidnappers Chase, der den Camp-Abholer gemimt hatte, die nach einigen aufregenden Kapiteln ebenso bald abflachten. Ich glaube, stets zu wissen, was die beiden Parteien taten, raubte ein wenig Nervenkitzel, immerhin hatte man als Leser so einen enormen Informationsvorteil gegenüber Lena und den Ermittlern.
Darüber hinaus gab es einige extrem unrealistisch, nahezu absurd anmutende Textstellen, auf die ich im Folgenden näher eingehen werde: (SPOILER) Nach 140 Seiten tauchte plötzlich eine Spaziergängerin vor der Hütte auf, in der Mr. Everett die Kinder versteckte, woraufhin er ihr unauffällig in den Wald folgte und sie tötete. Außer vielleicht ein wenig Spannung zu erzeugen, hatte das für den Plot rein gar keinen Sinn. Viel bizarrer wurde es gleichwohl, als Mr. Everett nicht einmal eine Seite später selbst verunfallte, indem er während eines erhitzten Telefonats auf einem Steg am See stürzte. Die Szene kam mir vollkommen hanebüchen vor, weil nicht einmal eine Begründung für seinen Fall angegeben wurde, abgesehen davon, dass er sich schnell umdrehte und auf einmal taumelte.
Kurz darauf stießen die Ermittler des FBIs durch einen Fehler in der Verschlüsselung einer verschickten Droh-Mail der Kidnapper auf Everetts Sohn Chase (alias J.D.), den sie berechtigterweise verdächtigten, die Kinder mit dem Kleinbus abgeholt zu haben. Sie hatten sogar die von ihm dabei getragene Lockenperücke in einer Mülltonne gefunden, wenngleich sie ihn nicht zwingen konnten, sie aufzusetzen, weshalb sie ihnen den Eltern (von denen alle außer Lena ohnehin aus Ablenkung von der „Beschäftigung mit ihren Kindern“ während des Abschieds angegeben hatten, J.D. nicht identifizieren zu können) nicht vorführten. Ich fragte mich an der Stelle nur: What in the Hannah Montana is going on? Als ob man ihn nicht mehr erkennen würde, nur weil er keine Perücke trägt??
Von den neunjährigen (!) entführten Kindern, die nach Mr. Everetts Ableben Zugang zu seinem – natürlich fast keinen Akku mehr aufweisenden – Laptop hatten, wusste aus irgendeinem Grund niemand, wie man einen Computer richtig bedient, was ich in Zeiten, in denen man bereits zur Einschulung das erste Handy bekommt, etwas unrealistisch fand, vielleicht muss man dem Buch hier aber auch die fünfzehn Jahre zugutekommen lassen, die seit seiner Veröffentlichung vergangen sind. (SPOILER ENDE)
Was mir ebenfalls auffiel, war, dass oft Sarah etwas dachte oder tat und ihre Mutter dann just in dem Moment auf die gleiche Idee kam, damit der Plot vorangetrieben wurde. (SPOILER) Das sah man etwa, als Sarah ihr mit dem Laptop des Kidnappers eine Nachricht über FaceBook geschickt hatte und Lena urplötzlich an ihren entsprechenden Account dachte. (SPOILER ENDE)
Das Ende war ein bisschen klischeehaft – (SPOILER) verzweifelter Vater rennt nach stundenlanger erfolgloser Suche allein in den Wald, schreit nach seiner Tochter und dann ertönt schlagartig ihre Stimme in der Ferne (SPOILER ENDE) –, aber in Ordnung und sogar ein bisschen rührend.
Fazit: Ich gebe „Schöne Ferien“ drei Sterne, die jedoch ziemlich nah an der Grenze zu vier Sternen angesiedelt sind. Das Buch ließ sich gut lesen, war aber weder eine Spannungsexplosion noch die realistischste Geschichte, die mir je untergekommen ist.
Noch eine kleine Anmerkung: Auf Seite 96 fehlt ein Komma vor „wenn“, auf Seite 99 steht eins mitten im Satz bei „Während des Theologiestudiums hatte sie eine Predigt, gehalten, von der sie sich vorher nur Stichworte notiert hatte“, auf Seite 121 steht „nicht … noch“ statt „weder … noch“, auf Seite 219 fehlt ein Wort bei „Wir möchten, dass Sie es sich allein [ansehen]“ und auf Seite 355 ist „hatte“ doppelt.

[Jacqueline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some parts were really slow and hard to get through. I was able to figure out who was behind the kidnapping early on, so it was semi-predicatable. I thought that the writing could have been a bit better.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was terrific but it got very far fetched. It was such a good idea too, could have been much better!

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure why I finished this one...think I kept hoping it would get better!

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storyline started out good but quickly became predictable. The writing level is not very high.

[charmaine White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

Amazing and fast paced from the first word the very last.Hold on to your seat,and have a box of tissues handy.You are going to need them.

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would categorize this book as ok. The story was good. This authors writing style was not great for me especially in the first couple of chapters it took me a while to get into the story.

[Robert Dugoni]

This one will scare anyone with kids. A good read.

[RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN · Rating 4 out of 5]

RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “SOME KIDS ARE BORN TO BE LEADERS… AND SOME PARENTS ARE BORN TO BE BUMS.”
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Every parent and child has coming of age moments. Some are looked upon with pure unadulterated joy… such as a baby’s first steps… or a baby’s first words. Some are more gut wrenching such as the first time you drop your child off at day care or at their first day of kindergarten. A level above the first day at school in the “gut-wrenching” department is your child’s first overnight trip without you… or the seemingly endless first sleep away camp adventure. As four separate families face this emotional goodbye in their driveways and get ready for the poignancy of two full weeks without their children… and the children try to bravely face the prospects of two weeks away from their parents and home… a situation beyond their worst nightmares takes place. Shortly after all four children are picked up by the camp van… another van… the “actual” camp van arrives to pick up their children.

As it quickly becomes apparent that a despicable crime has been committed… the first time novelist Doug Magee with the efficiency of a tornado engulfs the reader in email ransom notes… local law enforcement… the FBI… and not only husband against wife… but couples immediately thinking the worst of the other parents involved in this kidnapping scheme. On the parents side most of the book is told through the eyes of Lena and David, parents of strong-willed daughter Sarah. Lena is an oncologist and David who has secrets of his own is in the computer business. The other parents involved include a high level executive with Citibank and his religious wife… a construction company owner… and Sarah’s good friend Linda’s parents who are down on their luck and constantly let everybody know it. As the investigation takes place the scenes switch back and forth from the home front where the depiction of today’s media engulfing every move the parents make is spot on… to the plight of the kids in the wilderness with one of the members of the multi-level kidnapping team. Early on the kidnapper that is with the kids in a hidden remote location in the Adirondack’s dies (Not a spoiler) and this presents the one semi-humorous situation in this taut novel. Despite this being the “from-birth”… to morning-noon-and-night computer generation… when these four nine-year-olds grab the computer from the corpse… and finally get a communication signal… none of them can remember how to get to an email account… and when they do they can’t remember the password.

As accusations fly in the privacy of the parents homes… Sarah becomes a leader of the kidnapped clan… and David and Lena face marital uncertainties. At times through narration Lena seems attracted to a cop named Martin and one of the parents Mike who owns the construction company. These two internal personal flirtatious thoughts don’t seem to hold muster with the overall flow of the story. As the FBI investigates and grills a suspect… and rescue teams activate… and Sarah sees dead bodies and hears bears… yet leads on relentlessly… at this point the story is gripping. There is only one weak area in this riveting story and that is when two of the participants are led by a “spiritual-sensory-sixth-sense-type of connection.

This is a very impressive effort for a first novel.

Note: Interesting tidbit. Though throughout the book they predominately describe the vehicle that picks up the kids as a van… the picture on the book jacket is clearly a school bus.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

a 2.5

This was my first time using an audiobook and I'm glad I used it for this one because other wise I'm not sure if I would have been able to finish the actual novel.

I thought the concept and idea of this book was interesting, children meant to get picked up for camp swooped away by somebody pretending they work there. Brilliant! However, I wasn't enthralled by the execution of the plotline, I found that it fell flat in building up the suspense and mystery.

The book overused tropes that are almost always found in adult literature, nothing felt surprising and I could see "plot twists" coming from miles away. Some of the plots were left unfinished and while at times that isn't always a big issue when these plots are mentioned as seemingly important parts of the book - they should have more weight when wrapping up the story.

ALSO the idea that good ol intuition and a motherly spiritual connection could help find the children instead of a GPS, or facts was down right ridiculous and made the ending much less satisfying

Overall I wasn't thrilled with this book, I found it used too many cliches and solidified the fact that it is STILL easy to tell when a man is writing a women's body / sex scenes rather than a woman and they should be stopped.

[Ande Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, so I was invested from the beginning of this story. As a mom, this is an obvious worst nightmare. But as the story unfolds I was sort of underwhelmed. Nothing really bad happens except that the kids were kidnapped. The stakes were never high. There wasn’t a ‘the patents must find their kids before they bleed out or get sold into slavery or are buried alive’… they were scared but they were fine. They were fed, did some hiking etc.
I did like the children, they were fun quirky characters. The parents were ALL awful. I didn’t really like any of them. Lena was annoying and so oblivious to everything.
*spoilers*

Dave was the WORST. And I absolutely hate that he never had big consequences for having an affair. I really wanted his mistress to be behind the whole thing. Lena never finds out - which is so beyond wrong. Also- every sexual scene was so awkward and didn’t do anything for the story. It was also obvious from these moments that it was written by a man. I’ll just stop there.

It was so unsatisfying that none of the bad guys got there comeuppance. And the poor hiker got the stranger things Barbara treatment. Basically a throwaway character.

If you feel like reading it, it’s not terrible… but there are other books more worth your time.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this would be a little more suspenseful. Four children are set to go off for a two-week camp. A van bearing the camps logo and carrying a counselor with Camp t-shirt and Camp paperwork arrive and take them away. he is a little early, but seems to have answers to all the questions , so the parents think nothing of it. A little later, the actual Camp van arrives, and the first mother realizes something is wrong. she contacts her daughter's friend's, the next one on the pick up list. Before they make the connection,
they find that all four children have been taken. Soon they receive a demand for ransom. During the ordeal, each of the parents struggle with his/her own secrets. This could have been really twisty, turny, and suspenseful. But I just feel like it fell flat from delivering on that. At least it was a quick read!

[Daphne Hartman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dit was een leuk boek. Door de wisseling van het perspectief las je ook vanuit de ontvoerders terwijl je als lezer nog niet precies wist wie zij waren en waarom ze dit deden. Het boek last gemakkelijk en vlot door maar ik vond het boek niet heel vlot geschreven. Veel gebeurtenissen duurde best lang en eigenlijk gebeurde er ook niet mega veel. Ook de spanning in het boek was niet erg hoog maar wel voldoende om door te willen lezen. Eigenlijk wil ik dit boek 3,5 ster geven omdat ik het niet top vond maar wel vermakelijk.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah is going to sleep-away for 2 weeks but things aren't always what you think. When Sarah gets on the bus with 3 other kids that's when it all goes wrong. Four sets of parents find out they are now living their worst fear the kids have been taken. When the police get involve the parents nightmare begins a long with the wait. This is a page turner from start to finished one I really enjoyed

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story takes us into a nightmare for these parents . Their children were taken by some posing as a camp pickup service. JD the driver is no mastermind there are others behind this evil dead. Sarah one of the kids is smart and resourceful and has an unexplainable connection to her mother. This story takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. Buckle up!

[Pedro Ferraro · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh, its ok. the premise is nice but its all so cliched... ok i guess i wasnt expecting the kidnappers to die that early, but aside from that its basically another episode of CSI, so if you like that go ahead, if you want an intricate storyline stay away, far away. also pretty easy read.

[Hester Heath · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book lasted much, much longer than I wanted it to. The characters were all basically unlikable jerks. Bonus: if you listen to the audio version the narrator puts on a whiny voice for most of the kids and several adults.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

very much enjoyed it. couldnt put it down. however I could very well figure out who was behind the kidnapping early on. The end did sorta did get a bit wonky with the mother, Lena, thinking & wishing the kidnapped girl home. but all in all I did enjoy it.

it was an easy read.

[Nicky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Het boek kon me vanaf het begin af aan al niet echt boeien. Vandaar dat het zo lang duurde voor ik het uit had. Flinterdun verhaal, niets zeggende personages en de ‘ontknoping’ is te zot voor woorden.