I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you liked Summit Lake you will love this book, it has "darker" undertones and is a quick read. The story is based on Nicole Cutty and Megan McDonald, both girls were abducted but only one comes home safe, the other remains missing.

Nicole's older sister, Livia is a medical examiner. She decided to go into this profession to make sure everyone is treated and researched the way they should be. One day, Livia examines a man who has a connection to her sister and clues begin to surface in what happened to Nicole. Livia takes the case on and goes all over to try to solve what happened to her sister...including the help of Megan McDonald, who she soon realizes may have more in common with her sister than she originally thought.

I really enjoyed this book and could even see the movie rights being purchased, it is one that I would love to see on the big screen. This book is suspense filled and a quick easy read, would recommend! If you like books by Mary Kubica, Heather Gudenkauf, or Chevy Stevens, Charlie Donlea would be a great author for you to pick up and read.

I want to thank the author/publisher/NetGalley for a digital copy of this book, in exchange for an unbiased review.

MAJOR round of an applause to Charlie Donlea on his second novel. This one was an easy 5 star rating. I loved EVERYTHING about it.

As you read from the synopsis, Nicole Cutty and Megan McDonald go missing at a beach party and are nowhere to be found. Almost all hope is lost, until Megan escapes the bunker where she was held.

A year passes and Nicole is still missing. Her sister, Livia Cutty, a fellow in forensic pathology (with a punny name like cutty-I see what you did there Charlie), wonders every day if Nicole's body is going to through the morgue doors. As she patiently waits, another body surfaces that leads to clues about Nicole's past and soon Livia finds out more girls are missing. She enlists Megan for help in digging deeper to find out what is going on and how, if possible all the cases are connected.

The Girl Who Was Taken will keep you biting your fingernails and reading every minute you get! Donlea keeps you guessing and takes you on a rollercoaster of a ride that was well worth the wait!

HIGHLY recommended for all mystery/suspense lovers out there!

This book grabbed me from the first page but as the story went on it started losing its grip. I absolutely hated Livia but I cant put my finger on why. It ended far too abruptly for my liking and yeah yeah I know...sequel. But blah.

I did have to finish this book to see how it ended and who did it. I did not like all of flashing back to the past and then flashing to the present, it really detracted from the story line. The mystery was very good and I did not figure out who did it

Wonderful entertaining novel. The book always keeps you guessing and thinking about the characters even when you are not reading it. Gripping read and smartly structured.

Copy furnished by Net Galley for the price of a review.

A secret cult of those whose imaginations are completely taken with kidnappings is abuzz with a recent rash of missing girls. These people are obsessed. They meet to study, read, discuss, and even reenact possible scenarios that have resulted in abductions. The point is made that the act of kidnapping is that of <u>stealing</u> a person. Never thought of it in that way, but that is exactly what it is.

The underpinnings of the art of forensic science are in full array here. The post-mortems and ride-alongs are fascinating. I realize there are two schools of thought regarding the ending. I liked the rather abrupt curtain drop. A very good read!

Title: The Girl Who Was Taken
Author: Charlie Donlea
Publisher: Kensington Books
Genre: Fiction; Mystery; Thriller; Suspense; NetGalley; Goodreads;
Date Published: April 25, 2017
Date Read/Completed: April 2, 2017
My rating: 4/5 stars
Plot: 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.

Review: This book was fabulously written by the author…not too much and not too little. You get glimpses of what could have happened and it seems pretty straight forward. Until it isn’t. Did I guess the ending? Well into the last third of the book I had an inkling of a feeling for the whodunnit but then swept it under the rug. It’s so hard to write a review for this book without giving away the ending so I’ll leave you with a basic little synopsis and you can decide for yourself.

Nicole and Megan are both high school seniors who disappear from a beach party. Megan escapes and writes a book about what happened. ( I think if the reader was able to read this book there would definitely have been more questions about Nicole’s disappearance). Livia, Nicole’s older sister, works in forensic pathology and starts digging deeper to find out more about her sister’s disappearance. The book is mainly told from her point of view as well as Megan. With the help of Megan, she starts connecting dots. From there, it’s like a roller coaster ride with so many possibilities…little hints dropped along the way. Let’s just say there are several players in this game that the author threw in to surprise the reader. An excellent read overall.

Thank you to NetGalley, Charlie Donlea, and Kensington Books for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a well written, suspenseful tale about missing girls and a young Medical Examiner in training who was searching for what happened to her younger sister who vanished two years earlier. The characters are interesting and will hold the reader's attention. The plot so complex I never really guessed who the villain was (I did but didn't believe it could be this person). There were lots and lots of false trails and some real clues in unexpected places. Thanks to Net Galley and Kensington for an ARC for an honest review.Q

I absolutely love this book!!! I could not put it down. It reminds me of the Kaye Scarpetta Series. Awesome!

Loved this thriller! Years ago, two girls disappeared and only one, Megan, returned--but with little to no memory of her abductor or the circumstances surrounding her capture. As she begins to write about her experience, Livia, sister of the still-missing girl attempts to delve deeper into the mysterious circumstances that still plague the townspeople and loved ones. As Megan and Livia work together to unravel the threads, we are thrust back in time to see the history behind the gruesome truth. Many twists and turns, secrets, unrevealed passions come into play until the exciting yet heartbreaking conclusion. Not just your "average" abduction tale! Highly recommended!

Two girls were kidnapped. Megan McDonald escaped the bunker in the woods, became famous, and authored a bestselling book about her experience. Nicole Cutty has still not been found. The focus of The Girl Who Was Taken is less on their kidnapping than on Nicole's older sister, Livia. Livia is training in forensic pathology and waiting for her younger sister's remains to be discovered so that she can finally have answers. It's all a lot more complicated than just two kidnappings and the book, which jumps back and forth from the weeks before the kidnapping to the present and between characters, gets more interesting as it progresses. The autopsies that Livia performs as part of her training are described in extreme detail. I'm not sure I wanted to know so much about decay.

Okay, this book was amazing. It was a combination of Gillian Flynn, Patricia Cornwell, and had some "Final Girls" by Riley Sager (due to be released in July) sprinkled through.

With a plot like above, I was obviously hooked from the beginning. This one does not take long to get into and starts off with a bang. Reading this was like a firework. A loud bang in the beginning with fiery embers throughout the novel and a sizzle as the end approached.

I would definitely describe this as a thriller with a ton of red herrings, some information on forensics, and a good old fashioned murder mystery. Donlea did a fantastic job of explaining all of the forensic information without making it confusing or boring and too detailed.

The imagery with this one was on point. I almost felt like I was sitting with each character, but remaining silent and watching them and hearing them go through their day. And each character was so beyond well-written that you would think this could pass as a true crime novel. The mystery really builds up as Donlea alternates between past and present and keeps the tension at a max throughout the entire process.

My advice, is when this title is released on April 25th of this year, wake up and order it ASAP. Hell, I would pre-order this just to ensure you get it as soon as it's released. While, I was provided with an ARC copy from Net Galley, I am guaranteeing you, I will still buy a copy.

Fantastic read with believable characters, tons of red herrings, and an ending that is like a punch in the gut. I cannot wait to see what Donlea does next.

Twists, turns, and mystery abound in this tense thriller of missing teens and those who seek to hide and those that seek to find. Donlea does a great job of developing the cast of characters with a past and present development of the plot. Your interest will be kept at a peak until the surprise ending.

Charlie Donlea has masterfully told the story of young woman kidnapped and the shocking 'who done it' will leave you shaking your head in horror!
This should be one of 2017's top books.

Oh yeah. This was a goodie. My first read of a Charlie Donlea novel and a name I will remember to look out for in the future.

Livia Cutty, our central character, is a fellow in forensic pathology. Her sister Nicole along with her nemesis Megan McDonald went missing over a year ago and, although Megan somehow managed to escape two weeks after she went missing, there is still no sign of Nicole and she is all but presumed dead. Livia is convinced that someday Nicole's body will end up on her table and she will be able to find out first hand what happened to her teenage sister. Instead a body of a man in his mid 20s turns up on her table and provides an unexpected link to her sister. Determined to follow this lead, Livia sets out to find out as much as she can about her sisters past and what happened to her. Spending her spare time following up leads that present themselves, slowly, but one after another once the male body was found and appeared on her table.
She is wracked with guilt over the disappearance of her sister. While they were once close, Nicole became more and more rebellious as a teenager and when Livia moved away to college they had less and less contact. On ththe night she disappeared she had tried to call Livia but she ignored the call, not wanting to get involved in her teenage dramas and rebellion. That decision haunts her and is what is driving her to eventually find out what became of Nicole.

She ends up making contact with Megan, who is now a major celebrity, daughter of the local sheriff who managed to escape her kidnapper, a best selling book recounting her ordeal, the public are both fascinated with the macabre ordeal that she went through and satisfied with the feel good, escape happy ending. Nicole has been forgotten about and there is no room for her in this story of escape.

Livia soon links more missing girls to the same kidnapper and with the help of Megan and access to files from fellow forensic pathologists, soon begins to close in on what may have happened to her sister and the other girls. Who is the person holding these girls and abusing them?

This is a great read. Told in the third person, both in the present and in the past, just before and during the abduction of the two girls, it's a brilliant use of this device(often used) to lead the reader through the story and peel off the layers of mystery. Livia is a fantastic central character, instantly likeable, you have empathy with her and are rooting for her throughout as she tries to find out what happened to her sister. There are some fascinating and detailed segments on autopsys that she carries out, some as plot devices and some just part of her training/work but they really add to the reader being drawn into her world and taken along for the ride.

Megan as well is a very well written character. A reluctant hero, going along with the writing and publishing of the book, more to please others than herself, it's fascinating to read and see both her present and past life. She's an integral part of the story.

Speaking of the story, it's a cracker. Beautifully told, it's very dark and pretty gruesome at times but the pacing is spot on. I didn't find the book dipping at any stage and I was always totally engaged with what was going on. There are a couple of really good red herrings thrown in that are more subtle than I originally thought when reading them. One especially I had to go back and re-read once finished the book, as I was convinced it had told me something concrete in no uncertain terms, and by the end of the book it ended up not being true, so I was a little confused. It was only when I went back to that segment and re-read it did I realise that things were subtlety suggested by the author, very subtlety in fact reading them back, but such was the cleverness of the device that I had swallowed a "maybe" as an "absolute". Very clever by Mr Donlea and I fell for it big time.

The last quarter of the books absolutely flies along as the pace builds to a crescendo and the ending was thoroughly satisfying. Some may feel it ended a little abruptly with the last line but I had no problem with it. The whole thing was more or less resolved by the end.

4.5 stars from me. I really really liked this book. The story, the characters, the writing style were all a winner for me. Charlie Donlea is a name I will look out for in the future and I eagerly look forward to reading his future offerings.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Kensington Publishing Corporation and Charlie Donlea for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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.

Five Stars
What did I think:
OMG this book was what I needed right now, once I started to read it ,I just couldn't stop ,it had me hooked and before I knew it pulled into the story, it's the type of thriller that plays with your mind, and keeps you guessing from the very start to the very end, ok so it does end on a cliffhanger,but it's a still a five star read,so if you love thrillers that are kind of dark, plays with your mind, keeps you guessing , and has a lot of dark secrets and twist and turns from the very beginning then this one is for you,with that said I want say thinks to NetGalley for giving me the chance at reading this and finding a new author to read, in change for my honest opinion ,and I can't wait to pick up an actual copy of this book and to see what happens next .

The Girl Who was Taken goes back and forth in time. Author Charlie Donlea did an excellent job of melting the time frames together. Some edge of the seat moments. An excellent story that keeps the reader guessing until the final pages. Looking forward to reading more by Mr Donlea. I was given an early copy to review.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this thriller!

If you can get pass the premise of the book - that people get off on abduction stories - and lots of creepy abduction details, then you'll be left with a thrill ride of a book.

Livia Cutty is a fellow in a forensic pathology program in North Carolina, still reeling from guilt over the fact that her younger sister was abducted and is still missing. Megan, the girl who was abducted from the same party on the beach at the end of the previous summer escaped but had so knowledge of what happened to Nicole.

A body fished from the bay starts Livia down a path that leads her to start investigating the disappearance of Megan, Nicole and other girls. Megan is seeing a psychologist and undergoing hypnosis to try and recover more of her memories.

This book will keep you guessing til the last sentence (and even after that!) - it's a great ride and I raced through it

Simply for the forensic pathology element, this book is worth the read. And the mystery was pretty great, too.

I absolutely adored the clinical perspective of this book. Dr. Cutty starts looking at living people and seeing how they might die, which was grotesque but at the same time terribly intriguing to read about and gave her a unique perspective on characters.

I was intrigued by the disconnect between how Megan viewed herself, how her parents viewed her, and how society viewed her. The way that the public so desperately wanted her to be okay was so heartbreaking, and it was also harrowing to see how it was hard for her to truly have her thoughts heard. Her psychologist hypnotises her in an immensely fascinating process to watch and learn about.

I thought the organisation was confusing and I found it hard to follow the separate timelines at points. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and a lot of girls that are hurt. I think it would have benefitted from seeing fewer points of view.

The ending was highly satisfactory, though sad and not at all what I expected. This book had my emotions going and the mystery led me in several different ways, yet the ultimate resolution was not as I expected, though it made total sense.

The relationships that the various characters form was the icing on the cake for this book. I didn't expect them to evolve as they did, yet all details were satisfying to hear about.

This book is definitely worth the read.

An incredible book by this author. Multiple kidnappings and murders. The suspense will have you reading far into the night because you won't want to put it down. Lots of twists and turns with many surprises.