The Girl Who Was Taken

by Charlie Donlea Narrated by Nina Alvamar

Overview

Charlie Donlea, one of the most original new voices in suspense, returns with a haunting novel, laden with twists and high tension, about two abducted girls-one who returns, one who doesn't-and the forensics expert searching for answers. Nicole Cutty and Megan McDonald are both high school seniors in the small town of Emerson Bay, North Carolina. When they disappear from a beach party one warm summer night, police launch a massive search. No clues are found, and hope is almost lost until Megan miraculously surfaces after escaping from a bunker deep in the woods. A year later, the bestselling account of her ordeal has turned Megan from local hero to national celebrity. It's a triumphant, inspiring story, except for one inconvenient detail: Nicole is still missing. Nicole's older sister Livia, a fellow in forensic pathology, expects that one day soon Nicole's body will be found, and it will be up to someone like Livia to analyze the evidence and finally determine her sister's fate. Instead, the first clue to Nicole's disappearance comes from another body that shows up in Livia's morgue-that of a young man connected to Nicole's past. Livia reaches out to Megan for help, hoping to learn more about the night the two were taken. Other girls have gone missing too, and Livia is increasingly certain the cases are connected. But Megan knows more than she revealed in her blockbuster book. Flashes of memory are coming together, pointing to something darker and more monstrous than her chilling memoir describes. And the deeper she and Livia dig, the more they realize that sometimes true terror lies in finding exactly what you've been looking for.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

02/06/2017
In this fast-moving page-turner from Donlea (Summit Lake), fledgling forensic pathologist Livia Cutty is determined to find answers about the fate of her missing sister, Nicole, who vanished from a high school beach party in Emerson Bay, N.C., a year or so earlier, along with classmate Megan McDonald. Megan has become a media darling since her recent escape from the bunker where she was held. A body brought to Livia’s Raleigh, N.C., morgue provides her first break. The badly decomposed corpse of a young man with puzzling injuries is identified as that of drifter Casey Delevan. When the news of the man’s death goes public as part of a homicide investigation, Livia gets a call from a friend of Nicole’s claiming a link between Casey and Nicole. Starting to investigate in earnest with the aid of emotionally fragile Megan, the sympathetic doctor stumbles across a disturbing secret side to her sister—and into very real danger. Donlea skillfully maximizes suspense by juggling narrators and time all the way to the shocking—albeit implausible—final twists. Agent: Marlene Stringer, Stringer Literary Agency. (May)

Library Journal

05/01/2017
After two college-bound girls in North Carolina go missing during a beach party, one of them, Megan, escapes. A year later, she reluctantly tells her tale of abduction and survival in a best-selling memoir and in television interviews, but she isn't as healed as everyone thinks—her clouded memory always threatens to clear and reveal details she has forgotten or suppressed. Meanwhile, Livia Cutty, a forensic pathology fellow and the guilt-ridden older sister of Nicole, the still-missing girl, begins an unauthorized investigation into the abductions and possible connections after she learns a man she recently autopsied had been hanging out with Nicole that summer. When Livia asks Megan to help her learn more about the night of the disappearances, both risk discovering things they might not want to know. Readers may roll their eyes at yet another suspense novel with "Girl" in the title, but Donlea's sophomore effort (after Summit Lake) is solid. He effectively tells the story using shifts in time, and despite deploying too much scientific terminology, keeps the reader guessing and second-guessing until the end, thanks to an expertly crafted abundance of potential suspects. VERDICT For fans of medical suspense and forensic thrillers, especially those who like morgue scenes in television crime shows.—Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170836116
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	04/25/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	578,824

Videos