NetGalley Buddy Readers discussion

A harrowing abduction becomes a tantalizing nationwide game in a twisty and ingenious novel of suspense by a USA Today bestselling author.

Alice Ingold has been kidnapped. Call the police. Alert the media. You can’t play this game without all the pieces.

Beautiful, blond, and immensely privileged, Alice Ingold is the perfect victim for a true-crime obsessed culture—and for a masked duo with a singular purpose. Instead of a demand for ransom, her captors have a riddle, and they’re inviting the entire country to solve it.

No one is more invested in the search than Alice’s Catherine, a socialite with obscene generational wealth, and Brian, a visionary AI tech guru. But while Brian turns to machines to solve the problem, Catherine tries to crowdsource the solution, stopping at nothing to bring her daughter home. And America isn’t just watching the story unfold…it’s playing along. The nationwide scavenger hunt for Alice is on.

As an increasingly desperate Catherine strives to understand each new clue, a complex picture of the crime develops. Soon, everyone will see the kidnapping of Alice Ingold for what it is—and Alice won’t be the only one who will need saving.

Kevin and I plan to start 11/13

Please join us if you can!

through Diary Entry Five / 24%

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wow, her being taken was scary. no idea why yet though
and yikes, now she's seen him

I wonder what the point of the diary is. just to chronicle it?

and Ugh, I hate but I feel like her friend knows more than she's letting on! Her being a social influencer makes me nervous and their push for going to the press - ugh, I hate that it makes me wonder about her friend! (hide spoiler)]

through Diary Entry 10 / 52%

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well, if the diary is to be believed - the daughter definitely tried to fight her way out of there.. but they aren't letting her go
nor are they really telling her how they plan to convince her to believe them. I agree with her, they aren't telling her why they have her - they are dancing around the point they want to make

however, I did think it was interesting that this started with a quote about Patty Hearst - someone who WAS convinced by her captors. . . (hide spoiler)]

Through Part 1 / 63%

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oh no! with the missing key card and the message to the media that was in the vein of a bunch of different authors? NOW I'm wondering if Alice set all this up. The diary doesn't have to be real - it can be just a think she wrote to make it seem like she was taken.

hmmm. . . .I wonder if him firing her made her mad and she started to wonder if his tech was actually a good thing. . .but hopefully I'm wrong and she's really fighting to survive.

I also really like that the mom is really waking up - noticing that her life isn't as great as she thought as she looks at her husband who isn't helping her through this. . .I love how hard she's fighting to find her daughter.
(hide spoiler)]

and done!

wow
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her dad REALLY lost it there at the end! shocking how mean he was, how much he didn't value her and just wanted to be the king of AI.

I had a feeling that Alice had set it up but I was shocked about exploiting the 10 million from the mom and that the make-up artist was in on it with the friend!! terrible people taking the opportunity to exploit the moment.

I was pretty surprised that her daughter did got the jail. shocking the dad shot her and how injured the pilot/boyfriend was.
also love that the mom got so much independence and confidence from this event (hide spoiler)]