Trapped

Greg Iles

ISBN 10: 0451207505 / ISBN 13: 9780451207500

Published by Signet, 2002

May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.5. Seller Inventory # G0451207505I4N00

Synopsis:

When a psychopathic con man kidnaps Will and Karen Jennings's five-year-old daughter, the couple decides to fight back to save their daughter. Reissue. (A Columbia Pictures film, releasing August 2002, starring Charlize Theron, Kevin Bacon, & Courtney Love) (Suspense)

Review: This explosive suspense thriller gets off to a blistering start: the kidnapping of a little boy--in eight breathless pages--that culminates with the child's safe return and the disappearance of the successful kidnappers. That sets the stage for the book's centerpiece, the abduction of little Abby Jennings, daughter of Will, a successful physician, and Karen, a slightly dissatisfied suburban woman who's wondering where the passion in her marriage went. The criminals' modus operandi is established early on. They target the progeny of Mississippi doctors, demand a reasonable (to an affluent M.D.) ransom, release the child after it's paid, and promise the victim parents that if they ever breathe a word of the incident to anyone, their kids will be taken again and killed. The kidnappings are carefully set up, targeted to take place when one parent is out of town at a medical meeting or convention, thus ensuring the cooperation of the other. And the victim is held by a sweet, slightly retarded but humongous and powerful man whose loyalty to his cousin, the mastermind, is unquestioned.

24 Hours is a version of the locked room school of kidnap mysteries and a very good one indeed, especially when Will turns the tables on the kidnapper and takes control of the situation. Abby's diabetic condition (she needs lifesaving injections on a regular basis) notches the suspense up one last turn. It's a well worked-out plot, the pacing is terrific, and the characters likable and attractive. Iles is a master storyteller, and this one has big screen written all over it--with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer as the Jennings, if we're lucky. --Jane Adams

Bibliographic Details

Title: Trapped
Publisher: Signet
Publication Date: 2002
Binding: Unknown
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket