very well written. I tend not to like mysteries involving kidnapping, but this one was very well done. ( )

The characters in this book were incredibly believable. The description of Joe's life as a criminal, and how his life experiences strongly encouraged this life, made me feel great compassion for him. It still affects me to this day to think of him perhaps being cheated out of a better life. ( )

In this book, the 4-month-old son of a Pittsburgh Pirates rookie pitcher is kidnapped in broad daylight from a discount store, seemingly without a trace, as far as authorities can detect.

I read a later installment of this series quite a while back, having borrowed it from the library not knowing it was part of a series. I'm still not quite sure how this book fits with that one, as recall it. Anyway, this series is set in Pittsburgh and its environs -- the author is professor at Pitt -- so that appealed to me. It wasn't a bad mystery. At first, I thought it was going in a direction I'd absolutely hate, but that got turned around. One of the main characters was detective Richard Christie, but this book was as much about the woman Marina (who winds up in the middle of the kidnapping) as about Christie.

Marina is the classic "what was she thinking?" character who keeps doing dumb things, trying to help, that can't help but get her into trouble. But, somehow, you can sort of understand her . . . sort of. I don't know what to make of the Christie character. He's a good cop, workaholic, who has a messed-up marriage which is about to get worse. This book is full of complex and dysfunctional human relationships -- some rendered astutely, some seeming a bit shallow.

This was George's debut novel, and for a first effort it's pretty decent. I'll probably continue the series, though the setting is part of why I will.

My one big complaint (and maybe it's a petty one) is her use of the word autism. She flippantly uses it to refer to when the kids are zoned out on music with their headphones on. That's not autism, and I find it offensive that she'd use such an emotionally-charged word in such an inappropriate way. ( )

http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/weblog/algae-2011-07.html#george ( )

kidnapped baby, lady follows the kidnapper
ok ( )