Whit Gentry

This book was a goodreads.com first read contest win.

After looking at the cover and reading the description about the book on the dustcover flap. I honestly did not think I was going to like this book. It sounded interesting but I kept thinking that this book just does not sound like something I would be interested in reading.

Boy oh Boy was I totally wrong.

This book is about 4 women. 4 of them have been kidnapped and the police has turned over the case to the FBI. The FBI considers these 3 women dead because of no ransom demands.

Okay here is where I am a little lost how can the police turn something over to the FBI. I thought (and this is my understanding) that if a person was kidnapped then it was a crime that they FBI dealt with. I do not know for sure so I am taking the author's at his word that this can be turned over to the FBI from a lower law enforcement agency.

I really find this hard to believe that this is the first novel/book by this author. I do not know if he is writing because he is now retired or it just took this long for an editor in a publishing house to realize what great work this author has written. I will now be on the look out for this wonderful author and any future work by him.… (altro)

Did Jake commit the perfect crime? Four women are kidnapped. The FBI is called in but no ransom demands come in the days following the kidnapping. Where are the woman and why were they kidnapped? What binds them together except for their mahjong games? I kept putting this book off but wow! What a read! You know from the first that Jake is the kidnapper. The question is why.

I liked the story. I had a hard time putting the book down. I especially loved the scenes with the women and Jake and would have liked to see more of those scenes and get more thoughts from the women and how the kidnapping was changing them and eventually the affect it had on their lives. I liked learning about the women as the FBI investigated their husbands and families and I was interesting to see how the husbands reacted and changed during the time the women were gone. I liked how the narrator would let us readers know that Jake's thoughts were premature. However, having the narrator as prominent during the epilogues weakened what could have been a strong part of the book. The narrator became a joker at that point and should have been left out. I also want to know what happened with Jake and did he change because it did not seem he had changed.

The writing needed to be tightened up. There were typos. The story is told in a passive voice and there is an emphasis on telling as opposed to showing. There were sections where dialogue between characters should have been instead of a synopsis of what they discussed. These are errors that occur on a first novel and get better with more experience in writing.

Regardless of the writing style, this is a book that kept me guessing until the end. I never suspected the reason for the kidnapping. There were parts when I was gasping for fear of what would happen. I actually turned off the television and did not go onto the internet so I could finish this book. I was that into it. I look forward to the next one and hope my remaining questions are answered.… (altro)