Tag Archive | kidnapping

U for Underworld – Abandon, by Meg Cabot (fiction)

Apr24

The underworld, the afterlife…
We always wonder what it’s like, after we die,
but Pierce knows.

If she hadn’t tried to save the dying bird, she wouldn’t have fallen into the near-freezing water, wouldn’t have drowned, wouldn’t have flatlined in the emergency room.

And finding herself in the Underworld, seeing the young man she met in a cemetery as a child, realizing that she’s dead… Pierce just can’t stay, and somehow she escapes back to the world of the living. But she’s never completely here.

Well-known author Meg Cabot retells the Persephone myth with a dark, modern twist in this first book of the Abandon trilogy. Book two, Underworld, will be published May 8, 2012, so hurry to read book 1 at your local library or independent bookstore first.
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Book info: Abandon (Abandon, book 1)/ Meg Cabot. Point Books, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: A new start in a tropical paradise…that should cheer up Pierce, right? Somehow, she’s not recovering from her near-death experience very well. Part of her heart must have stayed in the Underworld, with him.

So Mom brought her to Isla Huesos, where she grew up. New house, new school, her uncle and cousin and grandmother nearby – living among the Florida sea breezes and bright flowers of “the Island of Bones” should help her readjust to being alive, to fully recover from being clinically dead after that accident two years ago, to escape from the strange things that happened at her last school.

People ask if she saw a bright light as she died, but not about her seeing John in the Afterlife or escaping from death itself. They don’t know that Pierce met handsome, dangerous John Hayden during her childhood when she tried to revive a dying bird at her grandfather’s funeral in Isla Huesos and succeeded or that he’s given her a necklace that warns her of danger approaching.

Isla Huesos High School has an odd tradition of “Coffin Night,” celebrating a hurricane so fierce that it lifted all the coffins from the cemetery. But this year, Coffin Night has been cancelled because someone has broken the cemetery gates and overturned gravestones. When John caught up with Pierce in the cemetery last night, he didn’t think that they’d be attacked by dark forces – striking back did a bit of damage, but they’d escaped, leaving Pierce’s necklace behind.

When the cemetery sexton shows up at school with her necklace darkening in its danger mode, Pierce has to meet with him later, despite John’s warnings. Does Mr. Smith know about John or is he just trying to frighten the newcomer? Why does her mother warn her about some local families and not others? Why are the storms strengthening so early in the season? Why does Pierce feel drawn to return to the cemetery again and again?

This eerie retelling of the Persephone myth takes readers to the Island of Bones and beyond, as strong winds and stronger feelings take Pierce far beyond herself. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

K for Kidnapping the wrong person – The Night She Disappeared, by April Henry (fiction)

Apr12

Kayla made the pizza delivery run.
Kayla never came back.
Not the one he asked for,
what to do with her now?

Gabie has to keep working to keep from worrying, has to keep up appearances at home so her overprotective parents don’t find out that she was the kidnapper’s target, has to keep trying to understand Drew’s life on the fringes of society when he wants to stay silent about it.

How Kayla endures being a captive, how her family and friends cope with not knowing whether she’s alive or dead, how Gabie and Drew watch every shadow for a clue about the kidnapper… the story is told through conversations, found pieces of paper, 9-1-1 call transcripts, lab reports, and newspaper clippings.

Taut suspense and realistic characters from Oregon author April Henry – grab a copy of The Night She Disappeared, just published this week.
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Book info: The Night She Disappeared / April Henry. Henry Holt Books, 2012 [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Kayla didn’t return from her pizza delivery and everyone’s worried. Gabie learns that the caller requested her and she’s terrified. What will the kidnapper do with the wrong victim?

Working at Pete’s Pizza after school isn’t a bad job at all – pretty Kayla likes meeting customers, Gabie likes being out of her too-quiet house while both her surgeon parents work late, and Drew needs the money to support his addicted mom. They all go to the same Portland high school, but skateboard slacker Drew doesn’t exactly fit into the girls’ social circles.

When Kayla’s truck is found abandoned by the rushing Columbia River with her purse and the pizzas still inside, police comb the area for clues. Her GPS took her close to the phony address given by the customer, but not much other information is available – until Drew mentions to Gabie that the guy on the phone asked if “the girl who drives the Mini” was doing deliveries that night.

Had he targeted Gabie and gotten Kayla instead? Detectives say that lead won’t help them solve the case and continue questioning everyone at Pete’s and all Kayla’s friends at school. Gabie and Drew decide to track down every possibility themselves, careful not to let her parents know that she was the intended target. Kayla’s parents even bring in a psychic who specializes in missing persons.

As days turn into weeks, hopes for recovering Kayla at all become faint. But Gabie can sense that she’s still alive, trapped in a small space. Can Gabie and Drew find her before it’s too late? Can they keep the kidnapper from snatching Gabie, too? (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

I for I’ll Be There, by Holly Goldberg Sloan (fiction) – connected by a song

Apr10

book cover of I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan
In a song, music can speak louder than mere words,
In a friendship, hope can be renewed,
In a heartbeat, everything can be stolen from you.

When being unremarkable is ingrained and staying anonymous has been beaten into you, getting noticed is dangerous, worrying, possibly life-saving.

Sam loved reading books in his second-grade class, the last time the teen was in school. His little brother Riddle has never been to school, never seen a doctor for his wheezing breath and watering eyes. Their father hears voices, distrusts everything and everyone – even the sons he stole from their mother.

Since music is vital to this book, the author has put together a playlist for each major character (including the Bells’ dog Felix) on her website, where you can also read chapter one of I’ll Be There for free, and read the lyrics to the song that brings Sam and Emily together,of course.

Check out Sloan’s debut novel at your local library or independent bookstore and enjoy its quiet interludes of friendships begun and rushing torrents of danger, with the unpredictable behavior of Sam and Riddle’s dad as wild card.
*kmm

Book info: I’ll Be There / Holly Goldberg Sloan. Little Brown Books, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [video book recap] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: Her song was aimed straight for that guy in the back, the only person who didn’t know how badly Emily sang solos – and nothing would ever be the same for the two teens again.

For Emily, it was the last time that she’d let her music professor dad force her to do a solo. He just has to accept the fact that neither she nor little brother Jared had a musical bone in their bodies.

For Sam, it was just another church in just another town where his petty thief father Clarence had dragged him and his so-silent little brother Riddle over all these years. But music was the only beautiful thing in his life, and Sunday morning churches were a good place to find it.

Somehow, Emily and Sam find one another, find snippets of time to be together without alerting Sam’s unstable father. Riddle needs Sam to help him navigate the world, an unschooled child who speaks little and doodles constantly, filling phone book pages with detailed mechanical drawings. So eventually both boys meet Emily’s family – her dad amazed at Sam’s guitar talents, Riddle mesmerized by her mother and food that doesn’t come from fast food dumpsters.

Of course, the Bells have no idea that the boys’ dad is just staying in town until his small crimes attract police attention. Then, without warning, Clarence will listen to the voices in his head, bundle what he can into the old truck, grab the boys, and go somewhere, anywhere.

Emily’s classmate Bobby knows that she’s hiding something – must be, if she’s turning down dates with him – and uses private investigating skills learned from his mom to find out where Sam lives, the abandoned house they’re squatting in, the fake license plates on the truck. When Bobby snaps a cellphone photo of Sam’s dad, Clarence decides it’s time to skip town.

And the boys are gone from the Bells’ lives, just like that.

Emily falls into depression, Bobby pretends to help search for Sam to stay close to her, and the old truck rattles off further and further into the wilderness, driven by a crazy man who might finally decide that his sons are too much burden to keep carrying.

Can you find someone when they’re expert at being anonymous? Can the sheer force of love keep someone alive over the miles? Can the promise of a song defeat insanity’s desperation?

This well-crafted novel is lyric in description and rich in characters that readers will long remember as they hum the classic hit song whose title it shares. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

C is Cat Girl’s Day Off, by Kimberly Pauley (book review) – cat voices and kidnapping in Chicago

Apr3

book cover of Cat Girl's Day Off by Kimberly Pauley published by Tu BooksOne sister is a child genius, the other a human lie detector.
Her dad is a super-sniffer and mom can out-think anyone anywhere.
Why is Natalie’s Talent so… everyday?
No wonder “hearing cats talk” is graded as class D.

Nat is trying to keep her Talent quiet, but when she spots a pink cat on video and understands his pleas for help, she can’t just sit idly by. Rufus’s person has been kidnapped right here in Chicago, and it all has something to do with the movie being filmed at her high school.

Wrigley Field and other Windy City locales used in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” are the backdrop for the friends’ madcap chase after clues by train, car, and sneakers, discussing things with cats they encounter (through Nat, of course).

Rufus and my cat Max chat a bit in my next post as they introduce my first giveaway! For your chance to win an Advance Reader Copy of Cat Girl’s Day Off, go here.
**kmm

Book info: Cat Girl’s Day Off / Kimberly Pauley. Tu Books, 2012. [author’s website] [publisher site] Review copy (viewed through NetGalley) and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Recommendation: Better to be a regular high school kid than show off her low-level Talent, thinks Natalie – until her gift for understanding cats’ speech may solve a kidnapping!

Her mom, dad, and sisters are so Talented – supersniffing, X-ray vision, truth detection, chameleon camouflage – that Nat’s talent seems worse than worthless. If the students at Shermer High treated her like that one boy in grade school who could make frogs change color by kissing them… bad news.

Her best friends Melly and Oscar know that she can talk to cats, but it’s no big deal to them. The big deal to them is the movie that will be filming scenes at their school, just as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” did – and they could be extras in the movie! Oscar is swooning over the leading man, while Melly hopes that appearing in “Freddy’s Day Off” will boost her acting career.

In a video news clip of movie blogger Easton West – all in pink, of course – and her dyed-pink dog and cat arriving in Chicago, Nat realizes that the pink cat is yowling that this person is an imposter and that Easton West has been kidnapped! West’s next blog post includes info that convinces Oscar that the person in that video is a fraud and that the pink cat must be telling the truth.

The three friends decide to rescue the pink cat and find out what’s happened to the real Easton West – as fast as they can between sitting through take after take of movie scenes at the school and Wrigley Field.

How can Nat make the authorities take this seriously, when no other humans speak Cat? Easton West’s last blog post before coming to Chicago threatened to expose one of the actresses – is this part of a plot? Will the imposter make good on her threat to kill the real Easton West? Oh, what will Nat’s cute classmate Ian think if he discovers that she talks to cats and that they talk back??

Lots of twists and turns as the friends and the cats they meet along the way chase after clues all over the Windy City, racing against the clock. One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)