(*I received this book in exchange for an honest review through LibraryThing's Early Reader Giveaway program.)

I received this book in audio book format from Audible, so I'll also comment on the narration.

Overall I found the book well-rounded from start to finish. There wasn't a lot of extra fluff that took away from the narrative or felt like the author was writing just to fill a page requirement. He did a great job about slowly revealing the mystery and how everyone was connected and what secrets the main characters had hidden.

I felt that Dan wrapped up the book in a fitting way. I was satisfied by the ending, which I always appreciate. I hate when books end poorly, on a weird note, or like it's not a finished book. Dan delivered on the ending, which I definitely appreciate. Everything was wrapped up and the questions that he had you thinking about during the read were answered.

I'm overly picky when it comes to audio books and prefer when they're narrated by a team of people as that changes the voices and keeps it interesting. I'm someone that's just attuned to different voices and am admittedly voice picky. There are some people I just can't stand listening to. So, I'm always apprehensive with a book on tape. However, the narrator of the audio book version did a great job. His voice was well paced and he did give each character a distinctive voice.

If you prefer audio books, I do have to say that this one is a good one to listen to. But, if you prefer to just read pages, I'd still say to pick it up. It's a worthwhile read.

If I had to pick an area that could be improved in this book is just the cover and title of the book. I understand why Amber Alert was chosen, but I think it could have had a different title that could draw in more readers, same with the background. It's a good book and I enjoyed it, I just feel like these elements, if changed, might draw more readers into this book to enjoy it as well. ( )

I gave this book 3 stars, which I rarely do, because of the writer's overuse of descriptive phrases. It was vomiting over-description of everything. And I hated the main character, aka, the chronic lying, gold-digging, fake con woman. I could not feel sorry for her one bit. The ending was over-the-top sugary sweet crap. I do think the writer has talent, but I did not like how this plot ended. Ll ( )

I thought it was a very good book and had some unexpected things happen towards the end. ( )

I could not connect with the main female character-- the mother of the abducted child. I could not feel sympathy towards her at all. Otherwise, the book was ok. ( )

I received this book through a LibraryThing giveaway. (Thank you for the opportunity to read it.)

Near the end of my reading this book I was set to give it 3-stars. Then the ending happened. I was asked for an honest review so I'm going to be honest, not mean though it may seem harsh, just honest. I have to give my disclaimer that I do not leave "bad" reviews to bash anybody or ruin their chances at anything. Just the opposite, I hope to share my feedback with the author in hopes they learn and improve their craft should they see fit. That said before I give any spoilers I will say that I think this author had a good plot overall (except bad ending) and has a lot of potential. However this book needed an editor, or a better one, and more beta readers. In addition, I read the e-book version and there was a formatting problem. There are also quite a few typos, nothing major that makes the book unreadable but they're there throughout. Also many passages were drawn out and repetitive. With more time and editing such passages/sections could have been narrowed down in some cases to a single sentence. These instances are a drag on what could be a good story and make it hard to engage. For example:

Page 67-8:
"Nobody says anything. If there was a bird in the room it could be heard chirping. If a pin were to be dropped it would echo in the emptiness. Melanie can hear herself swallow, and from across the room, she thinks Hank probably can too."

I do appreciate his efforts throughout the book to work with the senses but as a reader I don't care to be told in as many ways as possible just how quiet it is. It makes me wonder if he used an editor at all, proofreader, beta reader, or if he just couldn't settle in on one idea. Please pick one and move on. This is especially true here because it's not important to the story that the room is super quiet. Use space like this for scenes that make an impact, change the story, or move it along.

The characters didn't have much depth to them and to agree with another reviewer, there were a lot of interactions that were just distractions. It was impossible for me to attach to the little girl, Chloe, she didn't come across like a real 9 year old, especially one who had just been kidnapped. Kurt for me was a mush pot of a man. He seemed like a push over who had no backbone but I don't think that's how he was really supposed to be seen.

In all honesty, this book wound up reading like an assignment that had specified requirements (one of these type of scenes, one like this, one like that, etc.). I'll be more specific and try to keep it short, but spoilers are to follow.

For starters, I really didn't appreciate how from the start Hank seemed to know the girl wasn't in danger because of how she just left with Scott, the kidnapper. And he's a veteran detective who's worked other kidnapping cases?

The abrupt introduction of Jordan in the middle of a chapter about a quarter into the book was disrupting. I like the inclusion of him in the overall plot and twist however in my humble opinion this should have been planned better and woven into the story not just plugged where he might fit and or is needed. His relationship with Mindy is supposed to be deep but it feels superficial. Perhaps because this is the second couple in the story who is just super in love and romantic and OMG everyone is the best! It's too much and doesn't feel real.

It took a really long time to get interested in the book. If I was less patient or didn't follow through with books I start I would have skipped to the end early on. It's not because this is terrible but because there's so much dragging on of details and repetitive repeat repetitions, okay we get it details that don't help the story. I've come back to this - ah the irony - because Day 2 of Chloe's abduction I felt like "What! It's only been two days! Oh Lord..." Meanwhile so much of the tension is eased knowing early on that Scott is most likely Chloe's dad, so you don't wonder whether or not he's actually going to hurt her. As an admittedly critical reader, I don't really care about scenes with them together that don't move the story along because I know nothing's going to happen. At least prove me wrong, but that didn't happen.

With spoilers attached I'm returning to Kurt. My head was shaking to read that Kurt apparently just doesn't think too much at all about Abby acting so weird after their daughter is kidnapped. And then he catches her leaving late at night with Chloe's backpack and he just lets her go while he waits! AHHHHH, I was pulling my hair out. Really? And this is all coming from a woman who has been deceiving him their entire relationship but whom he's loved deeply and he's just gonna sit back like huh, she's acting funny.

Chapter 20 really bothered me. The Detective, Hank, tells his partner he's coming over, has got to tell her what he's learned and this comes right after he follows Abby to a gas station 25 miles out of town. So I was intrigued, oh man here comes a good part right, she's about to be found out. He gets to his partner's place, sits down, and tells her vaguely that he's learned something about Abby's other identity and he's waiting for more info. And oh yeah on his way out - ON HIS WAY OUT THE DOOR - he tells her Abby's other name and oh yeah I followed her tonight on some mystery drive out of town. THAT'S IT! THAT'S IT!? There was absolutely no reason for all the OMG I have to talk to you now, I'm coming to your apartment, you're not going to believe this, just to have him half tell her everything. So the fact that there was this intimate scene with Melanie (Hank's partner) and her girlfriend (Hank's daughter) happening when Hank called was kind of annoying, almost like more time was put into that just for the scene to fall flat.

There are a number of scenes where the characters act as though they already know what's going on but yet they don't. It's like the author writes his thinking into their head. Like Jordan finds Chloe on the side of the road is picking her up, he knows she's the missing girl because she's in the news. Then Scott sees this truck pulled over up ahead and some girl standing on the side of the road and he thinks oh no, what's going on here! Could this be some pedophile preying on a young girl about to kidnap her? What should I do? At the same time he's driving around looking for his daughter who ran away into the woods and is probably going to show up on the side of the road... This also brings me to the point that I don't care for his style of writing. I appreciate his attempt to change POVs, constantly replaying the last scene from a different character's POV, but it didn't work because the scenes just weren't that interesting and/or one of the POVs didn't give us any interesting or new insight.

Other scenes that didn't fit, couldn't believe, were when Chloe was returned and she's at the police station waiting in a room (first of all are they really going to leave this traumatized little girl alone in a room with her puppy?). She leaves the room to get water, finds the detectives down the hall and they just say hey what are you doing? Now go on back we'll be back with water, and they just trust she's going to go back and stay there. Or was this an opportunity to have her "hear" her parents come in as she's down the hall. And then it's like the girl forgets her dad standing there altogether. She's been missing for days but she's only interested in mom? It's like the author writes in the fact that that's not her real dad.

After all of this - and I have left things out - I was going to give 3-stars, as I said before, and then the ENDING! Mercy! After everything that happened the ending is just sewed up neat and tidy with a big red perfectly tied silk bow with sprinkles glitter fairies and puppies. Kurt takes Abby back after being lied to for 10 years, doesn't want to know if the DNA test says he's Chloe's dad or not, Scott's mom survives her heart attack while Scott gets beat up in prison just enough to be brain dead but not too dead so he can turn out to be the perfect match to donate his heart to his mother. Abby leaves her a nice note saying hey you're really Chloe's grandmother and Kumbaya everything is awesome. It doesn't work to just have Kurt keep saying this is difficult, I might not be able to trust you or at least it's going to be hard, we're going to need counseling, it's gonna take a lot of work. You don't learn your wife is really a con artist who only married you to divorce you and take half your money for her and her husband who's in prison. Meanwhile she was sleeping with both of you, got pregnant and decided she really loves you (I bet when you've got all the money and he's in prison!) but never comes clean. Nor does she come clean when your daughter is kidnapped and she knows who took her, because he might be her dad! And a couple days later you've just decided you're gonna make it work.

So sorry if this was a bit much but, I really did enjoy parts of reading this and I encourage the author to keep working on the craft. Maybe next time reread the work some more with a more critical eye towards the plot and CHOP CHOP CHOP the word count as hard as it may be we all have to do it. Thanks for reading. ( )