One Two Buckle My Shoe - Hardcover

Hunter, Jessie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684831708 ISBN 13: 9780684831701

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1997

Synopsis

The tension mounts from the very first pages when little Emily Lookinland is nabbed from the park the second her mother turns her back - and the pressure doesn't let up until the very last page is turned. Masterfully executed, the pulsating suspense and intense pacing derive not from any overt violence but from the psychologically riveting relationship that forms between Emily and her captor - and the dreaded anticipation of what will happen next.
Jessie Hunter expertly unfolds this taut drama, taking us inside the mind of the terrified, resourceful, and imaginative little girl, and also inside the mind of the bizarrely off-balance killer who is one minute a frightful monster and the next a confused, childlike, even pitiable figure. To add to the tension, we witness firsthand the terrifying, painful ordeal Emily's mother experiences from the moment her daughter is stolen away, and each agonizing second she is kept from her.

About this title

Review:

The subject, a notorious child molester called "The Chocolate Man" by the media because he lures his victims with candy, has already kidnapped and killed seven little boys. Now, by mistake, he grabs a smart, tough little girl named Emily Lookinland from a New York City park, and doesn't know what to do with her. The oddly touching relationship between Emily and her abductor is the heart of this thoughtful, exciting new thriller from the author of the equally intense and intelligent Blood Music, which is available in paperback.

From Kirkus Reviews:

An effectively moody and engrossing exercise in urban terror that fulfills the promise of Hunter's Blood Music (1993). George Riehle, a seemingly inoffensive liquor store clerk in Queens, is the sociopathic predator the media has dubbed The Chocolate Man. Using candy bars as bait, he has in less than two years kidnapped, sexually molested, and murdered seven adolescent boys. Two days before Christmas, the compulsive George feels the need to strike again. In the heat of the moment, however, he makes a consequential error, abducting a precocious nine-year-old girl named Emily Lookinland who had wandered away from her mother Lauren in Rego Park. Disoriented by the unexpected break in an established pattern, the wanted man does not quite know what to do with himself or his frightened but levelheaded captive. But as the NYPD task force created to apprehend The Chocolate Man swings into action and Laurie (a single mom) copes with a frenzied, intrusive press corps, George (an obsessive counter who talks to himself) and Emily form a relationship of sorts. Among other things, she learns that he has never wanted to hurt children, only mothers (because his all but ignored him). Acting on tips from observant or suspicious neighbors, the cops close in on George, but it is a distraught Laurie who forces the issue, locating him on her own. Events come to a violent conclusion during a high-speed chase down the Long Island Expressway on a snowy Christmas morning when Emily and her beloved mother must rely on one another for the gift of life. A first-rate tale of suspense set in an evocative working- class milieu, with a down-any-street villain whose psychic torments visit untold horrors on the innocent. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0684831708
• ISBN 13: 9780684831701
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320