‘The Abducted,’ by Roger Hayden

I must be cranky these days. This is the second novel I’ve reviewed in two days which I thought well written, but to which I refuse to read the sequels.

The Abducted tells the story of a string of child kidnappings in a single county in southern Florida. Each kidnapping takes place precisely one year after the previous one. All the victims are blonde girls about ten years old. The only person to actually see the kidnapper – though not well – is Officer Miriam Castillo, who caught a glimpse during a routine traffic stop that ended disastrously. Miriam leaves the force in the wake of the disaster.

A year later she’s contacted by an old colleague, Detective Dwight O’Leary, who’s investigating the last kidnapping as a cold case. He thinks (for reasons that I frankly find hard to understand) that Miriam, who’s not a cop anymore, knows something that can crack the case. She agrees to help him, and an investigation and manhunt follow.

The book was well written, the characters and dialogue good. What annoyed me was that the author ended the book with a serious cliff-hanger. I guess I’m perverse about these things. I like to buy the next book because I enjoyed the last one, not because bait has been thrown over my fence.

So I think I’ll let this one go. You may enjoy it, though. It’s not at all bad.

7 thoughts on “‘The Abducted,’ by Roger Hayden”

  1. I loved good novels. Especially involving police and other law enforcement agencies. What I hate is when the author does not take the time to research about the weapons used in, he story. In Abducted, the officer is shot with a 44 Magnum and the shell casing is found at the scene. 44 Magnum is a revolver round. It would not be left at the scene. Revolvers do not eject a casing when fired. Ruined the story. Won’t read another. Frederick. Skiludd@aol.com.

    1. I am not the author, or the publisher. I have no resources to do this more than anyone else with access to Amazon.com.

    2. Amazon lists three of these books in order as zero, one, and two. And there are two more released about thirty days ago which could be revisions to the originals. It’s odd.

  2. When Tara was abducted, she had tried to call her mother. But her abductor knocked the phone out of her hand and smashed it with his foot.
    Later Tara is hiding under the bed and the abductor holds out her phone for her. With her favourite screensaver. A big plot error.
    I can’t find a way to contact Roger Hayden to inform him. Good authors don’t mind people contacting them. I reckon that I’ll finish the book, but I won’t read any more.

  3. I enjoyed reading Abducted but I don’t think Mr Hayden knows very much about the Everglades. It is a treacherous environment with many snakes and alligators. So I found that really unbelievable that the criminal laid in muddy waters and not have to fight off these creatures. Another thing was the cigar smoking in an ashtray. Cigars have to be drawn on to stay lite. There other things but overall I liked his writing.

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