What an intense story. Right from the beginning there is that sense of danger for the young boys of Des Moines. The author is very clever in that nothing is laid out for the reader, and yet we are not left wondering what is happening. I particularly loved Crystal's story. I thought her character's thoughts and actions were perfectly and realistically portrayed and she was very relateable. The tension was well maintained thoughout the book and was even a little creepy.

Where I felt the story fell a bit short was in the way Crystal and Sammy seemed to be handle an extremely traumatic incident a little too well. That felt a little unreal in an otherwise extremely realistic story. Having said that, it was still a fantastic read!

It was the 1980’s, a time before the internet and cell phones and DNA. In other words it was a criminal’s heyday. The events in this story are based on real cases in Des Moines, cases where paperboys were kidnapped. Crystal Cox is a high school senior and wants to leave her small town; when Christopher Stewart disappears from his paper route, she believes that the story could be good enough to win her a college scholarship. Told through different voices, this is a story of a middle America gripped by fear in a more “innocent” time