The Last Time She Saw Him
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3.8 • 17 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
A reporter searching for her kidnapped son must untangle the connection to her brother’s long-ago disappearance in this “sharp, breathless thriller” (Lisa Jackson, #1 New York Times bestselling author).
Thirty years ago, Julia Gooden’s nine-year-old brother Ben was abducted from their shared room. Though she’s tried to recall any clue about what happened, she has no memory of that terrible night. Now a crime reporter at a Detroit newspaper, Julia tries to give others the closure she’s never found.
Still, she lives in fear that whoever took her brother could come back. Nowhere seems safe—not even the secluded lake town where she plans to raise her children. And then, on the anniversary of Ben’s disappearance, Julia’s worst fears are realized when her two-year-old son, Will, is snatched from his bed.
Convinced that the crimes are related, Julia tries to piece together memories from her final day with Ben. Julia knows she has hours at best to find Will alive, but the deeper she digs, the more personal and terrifying the battle becomes.
“A gripping story that I read in one night—I could not put it down.” —Debbie Howells, author of The Bones of You
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Reporter Julia Gooden, the smart, relatable heroine of journalist Haseldine's uneven debut, needs a break from her job at a Detroit newspaper. She finds peace at her vacation home on Lake St. Clair, Mich., with her two sons, Will and Logan. On the 30th anniversary of the 1977 disappearance of her brother, Ben, two-year-old Will is taken from his bed; the clues left are shockingly similar to those left at the scene of Ben's abduction. In addition to recruiting the help of ex-boyfriend Det. Ray Navarro and estranged husband David, Julia decides to take matters into her own hands. In the next 24 hours or so, Julia manages to have a press conference, illegally search a suspect's home, help search 30 acres of property, sit in on two interrogations, make a prison visit to someone who may have information about Will, and more. This improbable sequence takes credibility away from what is, for the most part, a competently written thriller at least until the gruesome final showdown, which borders on the ridiculous.
