Mark Giminez - The Abduction

Reviewed live on the bookshow by Brian Lowen 15th August

Mark Gimenez has been dubbed the new John Grisham but to my way of thinking he is better than Grisham because there are no long scenes set in courts and no legal battles, in fact he seems to have a very poor opinion of the legal profession. Instead the story is packed with non-stop action.

This is his second book – the first being Colour of the Law which was very good, but this is even better.

A very well contrived, detailed plot, that has many twists and turns. The build up of characters is excellent, from the well dressed, glamorous  wife to the hen pecked husband who is only permitted sex twice a month, and the Grandfather, an ex- marine and war hero having served with distinction in Vietnam and collected a string of medals.

It is the 10 year old daughter who is abducted after a football game when all the kids go to the concession hut which appears to be the tuck shop or ice cream stall. There are many Americanisms in the story which are not explained, also many abbreviations, which is a great shame as I would have thought Mark G. would have wanted his book to be understood in other countries apart from the USA. This is a small criticism though of a great story.

The daughter is abducted from behind the concession and whisked away before anybody notices – least of all her dad who is sitting in the stand busy on his mobile talking to his stockbroker. When the Mother arrives late, delayed by a long court case, to collect her daughter she is informed by the coach that her uncle has picked her up. But she does not have an Uncle! The Mother goes ballistic at the Dad for not looking after her properly and a State wide search is put in place by the local police and the FBI who also get involved as it is a child abduction case.

The local police think they have caught the kidnapper but he has been set up and subsequently hangs himself. The cops close the case without the daughter being found, so the grandfather sets off to find her accompanied by his son who is determined to do something to prove himself a man, after a childhood being continually bullied.

I won’t give any more of the story away, only to say that it had me on edge right the way through until the dramatic conclusion on a mountain in Idaho. There are flashbacks to the grandfather’s time fighting in Vietnam, which eventually show why the child has been abducted.

Thoroughly recommended as a great thriller. I am now looking forward to getting his next book which is called The Perk.