Review: Stolen Things by R.H. Herron
9:30 AM
Me: I'm going to wait until at least June to review this, since it's not going to be released until August.
Also me, in March: I'm reading and reviewing this today.
ABOUT
“Mama? Help me.”
Laurie Ahmadi has worked as a 911 police dispatcher in her quiet Northern California town for nearly two decades. She considers the department her family; her husband, Omid, is its first Arab American chief, and their teenaged daughter, Jojo, has grown up with the force. So when Laurie catches a 911 call and, to her horror, it’s Jojo, the whole department springs into action.
Jojo, drugged, disoriented, and in pain, doesn’t remember how she ended up at the home of Kevin Leeds, a pro football player famous for his on-the-field activism and his work with the CapB—“Citizens Against Police Brutality”—movement. She doesn’t know what happened to Kevin’s friend and trainer, whose beaten corpse is also discovered in the house. And she has no idea where her best friend Harper, who was with her earlier in the evening, could be.
But when Jojo begins to dive into Harper’s social media to look for clues to her whereabouts, Jojo uncovers a shocking secret that turns everything she knew about Harper—and the police department—on its head. With everything they thought they could rely on in question, Laurie and Jojo begin to realize that they can’t trust anyone to find Harper except themselves . . . and time is running out.
Laurie Ahmadi has worked as a 911 police dispatcher in her quiet Northern California town for nearly two decades. She considers the department her family; her husband, Omid, is its first Arab American chief, and their teenaged daughter, Jojo, has grown up with the force. So when Laurie catches a 911 call and, to her horror, it’s Jojo, the whole department springs into action.
Jojo, drugged, disoriented, and in pain, doesn’t remember how she ended up at the home of Kevin Leeds, a pro football player famous for his on-the-field activism and his work with the CapB—“Citizens Against Police Brutality”—movement. She doesn’t know what happened to Kevin’s friend and trainer, whose beaten corpse is also discovered in the house. And she has no idea where her best friend Harper, who was with her earlier in the evening, could be.
But when Jojo begins to dive into Harper’s social media to look for clues to her whereabouts, Jojo uncovers a shocking secret that turns everything she knew about Harper—and the police department—on its head. With everything they thought they could rely on in question, Laurie and Jojo begin to realize that they can’t trust anyone to find Harper except themselves . . . and time is running out.
MY RATING: ★★★★☆
I was sent an eARC of this novel from the publisher in exchange for
my honest review. This does not change my view in any shape or form.
Note: This review is a little on the shorter side for me because the release date is so far away. I don't want to spoil the novel for potential readers.
I love a good thriller that delivers all things necessary to chilling its audience. If it doesn't make me oblivious to the world around me, and dizzy with everything it contains, then I feel disconnected from it. Stolen Things is one of those thrillers that intrigues you in the earliest of stages--I knew I'd like it based on synopsis alone, but nothing prepared me for the experience of actually reading it.
Told in dual POV, Stolen Things follows and portrays many things. It is also oversees a cast of diverse characters and many questions. These questions, the mystery, kept me holding my breath from time to time. Stolen Things pacing was the cause of it--it builds the right amount of tension.
Herron knows how to keep an audience attentive and desperate to know what happens next.
What I liked most about the novel is the way it unravels and how well it fits. It was well developed, thoughtful and felt intensely real. When I say I couldn't put Stolen Things down, I mean that in the most genuine of ways--I didn't want to put it down.
If you're, like me, a long time reader of the genre, you'll probably see a lot of the central twists in the novel coming. However, Stolen Things makes it worth your while. With its stunning prose, you'll be compliant in remaining still throughout it.
You can't miss this one.
0 comments