Once some things are stolen, they can never be returned, innocence being chief among them. Author R. H. Herron takes us on an unnerving and thought-provoking journey with a family on the brink with her debut suspense novel, “Stolen Things.”

Laurie Ahmadi is a 911 dispatcher, a former police officer, and the police chief’s wife. As a seasoned dispatcher, she thought she’d heard everything until the night she answered a 911 call from her own daughter begging for help. JoJo is recued by the police in the home of an NFL player. She has been drugged and raped, a man has been murdered, her best friend, Harper, is missing, and she can’t remember a thing. When Laurie and JoJo decide the police aren’t doing enough, they take it upon themselves to launch their own investigation for find the man responsible and bring Harper home before it’s too late. Strap in tight, because R.H. Herron pulls no punches, and “Stolen Things” hits like a sledgehammer.

What impressed me most about “Stolen Thing” is it revolves entirely around several extremely sensitive and controversial issues. Rape, race, sexuality, and police relations are extensively explored throughout the narrative. Despite the dark, heavy nature of the subject matter, the narrative never gets bogged down. Herron approaches these complicated issues honestly and openly with grace and sensitivity to the extent the narrative never feels preachy or driven by an agenda. I always get apprehensive when plots gravitate towards these polarizing issues, but I was pleasantly surprised by the sophistication with which they were addressed.

I found the characterization within the novel at times beautifully rendered and at others somewhat lacking. The character development for the seventeen-year-old, JoJo Ahmadi, is inspired. Herron perfectly captures the fears, anger, confusion, and guilt of a teenager in the midst of such personal upheaval. She is a wonderfully dynamic characters as seen through her interactions with her parents and her friends, and especially through her complex relationship with Harper. Laurie Ahmadi, JoJo’s mother, is also well developed as an often overbearing, but clearly panicked, mother. We saw glimpses into the depths of her rage through several encounters with suspects, but I felt there was so much more to explore with her relationship with her husband as well as her troubled past as a police officer. Omid Ahmadi is also portrayed as the devoted husband and father, but as a large driving force in the plot, I would have like to have seen a more thoroughly fleshed out character. There are several points in the plot where his personal introspection could have revealed a great deal about his character.

Dialogue is crisp, powerful, and perfectly authentic sounding in a number of scenes. Scenes involving frantic parents are evocative and moving and the parental panic is perfectly captured. Scenes involving the victims trying to wrestle through hazy recollections are equally vivid and realistic. Several of the scenes depict terribly tragic scenarios, unimaginable to anyone that has never lived through them. Herron is able to capture many of the emotions generated by these scenarios and craft dialogue within the framework of each tragedy to breathe realism that is both stirring and terrifying. She takes us to several places where many authors would be reluctant to tread.

Chapters are short and the pace is quick as the last half of the book flies by at a break-neck pace. While the tone throughout is very dark due to the heavy content, the subject matter is handled so respectfully and the characters rendered so honestly, the darkness visited remains bearable throughout the novel.

“Stolen Things” is a beautifully crafted suspense thriller steeped in the worst of human nature. Several of the most controversial topics we’re currently facing as a society are explored within the context of an investigation into a horrible crime. Both thrilling and thought-provoking, “Stolen Things” is anything but your typical murder mystery. The suspense never lets up, and the twists will keep you on your toes until the very end. For the first suspense novel written by R.H. Herron, I say congratulation on a wonderful accomplishment.

The author did a wonderful job crafting a teenage character that was flawed and realistic and age appropriate. I enjoyed the premise and setting. Unfortunately, I thought the end was utterly unbelievable and took away from what could have been an important story to tell.

Laurie Ahmadi and her chief of police husband get the call most parents dread. A cry for help. It is a horse race. Out the gate, the plot is tied to many cultural/political issues that have no depth to them. With the F bomb on every other page, and the shock factor of sex, (the 16 year old daughter lap scene) police brutality, a sexual identity, the plot became lost and the characters dead to me.

A Special Thank you to Penguin Group and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

Overall a good read. Very difficult to make it through some of it. The writing was gruesome and disturbing. A lot of trigger warnings should be known. A lot of references to rape. Murder. Obstruction. It details intimately how broken our system really is.

This was a thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The character development is beautifully done and it was hard to put the book down. was kept guessing until the end of the book. A great concept and book, highly recommend.

Laurie, a 911 dispatcher answers a call one night to hear her daughter's voice on the other end. Jojo wakes up after being drugged unaware of where she is or what has happened to her or her friend who apparently is also missing. Together, mother and daughter, try to find what happened leading up to the assault and the involvement of the police force. I enjoyed the pace of the story and its conclusion.

This book was full of secrets, lies, cover ups and it kept me wanting to read more and find out what was going to happen. A 911 operator catches a call and it is her daughter asking for help. The book moves pretty fast from there as they race to find not only her but discover her best friend is also missing. The pov goes back and forth between the mom and daughter as they try and figure out who's behind everything. Really good book.

The beginning of the book gripped me and I couldn’t wait to keep reading. I struggled a bit about halfway through and felt a few parts were a bit flat but overall it was a gripping thriller.

Nothing about this book made it stand out against all the other thrillers that are out there in the market.

Loved the character of Laurie, loved the pacing and suspense. Had trouble caring about lying teenage girls, especially when the twists about the missing Harper came to light. The ending was a little hard to swallow.

The premise of this book was all too familiar to me, as a local scandal amongst police departments in our area. Readers will be shocked by the details enclosed in this fast paced debut thriller. The author took her past experience as a dispatcher and wove it between the pages, creating a realistic background on which our main characters draw on when caught in the middle of unthinkable acts and scandal within their own law enforcement department. While parts of this book were difficult for me to read because of the clear feelings of distrust towards the actions of law enforcement by the author, I choose to believe she also holds a place in her heart for the majority that are true to the profession. When I take my own feelings out of it, she wrote a great book that was fast paced, interesting and held my attention. I think her characters had depth and worked well together. Her storyline flowed and was well played until the very end.

Stolen Things by R.H. Herron starts off really strong. The action begins right away and pulls you right in. I wish that would have lasted the entire book.

Laurie is a former police officer, now a 911 Dispatch Officer and one evening gets a call no mother could ever imagine. Her daughter JoJo is on the other side of the line and needs help now. Told from Laurie and JoJo's perspective the crimes unravel. This book also has some politically hot topics intertwined throughout. If you enjoy crime thrillers you will enjoy this one. I just wish the middle was a little faster paced!

This book was quite suspenseful! And definitely had me on the edge of my seat. I think the author did a great job in developing the characters. I felt that they brought to light a lot of sensitive subjects (police brutality, sexuality, absue/mental health and family dynamics etc.). In the story JoJo is a teenager who is in love with her best friend and really struggles to understand what that means. Her and her bff are active members in CapB which is Citizens Against Police Brutality. They are hanging out and next thing you know, her bff Harper is missing, Jojo has been raped and someone is dead. JoJo's parents are part of the police force and are all hands on deck trying to solve the series of crimes. As more is unfolded, we learn that there is crime and corruption within the police. The twist and turns that this book takes keeps you guessing. I would highly recommend reading if you want a fast paced thriller.

This book was not my cup of tea. I felt like it tried too hard to be relevant and that ruined the story for me. If I could have seen past that I think it would have been a good suspenseful thriller.

I started reading this book, but did not finish it. I read a few chapters but was not interested in continuing with the story.

I always love a good female lead in my thrillers. This book was not my favorite but I definitely did not hate it either. I can not decide my feelings but I am glad I read it until the end.

Uncomfortable subject matter on several levels, but a lot of twists and turns. Spotlighted on the Dew on 11.5.19.

Didn’t really love the political undertones in this book. I don’t like when you can tell what the author’s stance on certain issues are while reading a work of fiction. As a fan of mysteries and psychological thrillers, this one just didn’t do it for me.

This story starts strong and never lets up on the pacing. I felt like something new and WTF was happening at every turn. But it wasn't overly done and felt eerily real. There's no one in this story without any guilt - well maybe except for a couple of characters... but like with humans in real life, we all have faults. There's an outstanding feeling of realness here - the family bonds.. how you think you really know someone and then you're forced to see a side you never knew was there. Then to have to reconcile all of that and decide how you feel after.

Teenagers think they're so grown. Parents think they're still kids. Really, they're in between. The protectiveness of parents towards their children. ALL the things behind the scenes you never see and are shocked to find out. I just really liked how the author put all these things together.

At first I thought this was going to just be your typical cop family with a kid who got the bad end of the stick and let's see how the mystery unfolds. I got a LOT more than I was expecting. Unfortunately with the political climate these days and with the (now more public) displays of police brutality and racial tensions that are rising, we see this across the board via live streaming, the news, via T.V. shows, movies, books... and this novel also touches greatly on police corruption. So at times, this definitely felt heavy. Almost reminds me of one of the latest episodes of 9-1-1 (one of my favorite shows) and for good reason - this is loosely based on the author's experience as a 9-1-1 dispatcher and it shows. This is the reason you read author's notes, everyone. Sometimes it can make you see the book in a different light then you did when you were actually reading it.

Sometimes a book can try just a little bit too hard to be current and relevant and politically correct. Sometimes a book tries so hard to be those things that the book itself suffers a bit.

That happened, I think, with R.H. Herron's STOLEN THINGS.

(I'd like to state here that I just realized I finished the book today and, other than a necklace stolen years before the actual story, I have no idea what things were stolen...)

R.H. Herron says in the Author's Note at the end that Kevin, a pro football player who scandalizes the country by wearing a flag pin upside down to protest police brutality, is not inspired by or a stand-in for Colin Kaepernick but... it's hard not to see it that way. R.H. Herron says that CapB in STOLEN THINGS is not meant to be a fictionalized version of BLM but... it's a group that organizes against police brutality that targets minorities.

And it is what it is... which is fine... it was just a little too on-the-nose for my tastes.

STOLEN THINGS is one of those thriller/mysteries where everything happens and you end up wondering just how in the world everything happens to this particular character. Which is fine, just also not my favorite thing. But in this story, the things that happen to a mother, a father, and a teenage daughter are (and I guess this counts as trigger warnings too for reasons soon to be clear) - rape, underage drinking, drug use, police brutality, a heart attack, sex trafficking, corrupt cops, prostitution, sex with minors, racism (the daughter is bi-racial), theft...

There is a twist ending, and I give one star for that alone. I absolutely did not see it coming, as wild as it is, and it made me glad I saw the story through. The characters are fine. The plot was fine. The suspense factor was pretty good. The setting was fine.

It's an entirely fine book. Nothing extra special, nothing extra terrible.

If mysteries and thrillers and suspense are your thing, give it a try. Really. I'm not at all sorry I read it and it was time well spent, even if some of that time was finding faults...

(I received a copy of STOLEN THINGS through NetGalley and Dutton in exchange for an honest and original review. All thoughts are my own.)