The Girl Who Was Taken: A Gripping Psychological Thriller

The Girl Who Was Taken is a story of two girls being kidnapped at a senior high school party at the lake. In present time, one of the girls’ sisters has become a forensic pathologist. After performing an autopsy on someone from her sister’s past, she begins looking into the unsolved disappearance. The story moves back and forth between the past and the present , unraveling the events from before the kidnapping until the present day. It was a true mystery for me, an avid suspense/thriller reader. I can usually guess the ending beforehand, but with all its twist and turns it kept me guessing until the shocking end.

I recently finished reading "The Girl Who Was Taken," and overall, I found it to be a gripping and engaging read. The narrative pulls you in from the very beginning, weaving a compelling tale of mystery and suspense that kept me on the edge of my seat. The characters are well-developed, particularly the protagonist, whose journey through trauma and recovery is both poignant and relatable. The book does an excellent job of exploring themes of resilience, the impact of trauma, and the complexity of relationships. The author’s ability to create tension and evoke emotions really stood out to me, making it hard to put the book down. However, I must admit that I was disappointed with the ending. It felt rushed and left me with too many unanswered questions. Specifically, the fate of Nicole felt unresolved, and I found myself wondering about the circumstances surrounding her death. The abrupt conclusion detracted from the overall experience for me, as I was hoping for a more thorough resolution to the story's intricacies. Despite my feelings about the ending, I still enjoyed the book and would recommend it to others who appreciate suspenseful thrillers. Just be prepared for an ending that may leave you pondering the details long after you've turned the last page.

The first book I have read by this author. It was gripping, hard to put down. Absolutely excellent read!!!! I will be purchasing another one quickly!

Hands down, Charlie Donlea is my favorite mystery writer, and The Girl Who Was Taken is a perfect example of why. This book pulled me in immediately and kept the tension high the entire time. The pacing is sharp, the stakes are clear, and every chapter makes it very difficult to stop “just one more” from turning into five. Twists? Plenty. Suspense? Relentless. That creeping feeling that you should absolutely go to sleep but cannot because you need one more chapter? Constant. Donlea has a talent for pacing that should honestly be studied. Every reveal feels earned, every character keeps you guessing, and just when you think you’ve figured it out, the book politely proves you wrong. I flew through this and immediately wanted to reread it just to admire how skillfully I was misled. If you love psychological thrillers that are smart, tense, and impossible to put down, this is a must-read. Five stars. Cancel your plans. Trust Charlie Donlea. 📚🔍

This books keeps.your attention and definitely has some twists. A little dark but definitely a gripping thriller about a medical.examiner searching for her abducted sister

I thought The Girl Who Was Taken was an okay read overall. The premise was intriguing, and while I did manage to guess most of the ending, it still held my interest enough to see it through. My favorite part by far was the two main characters—they were compelling and easy to root for. The first two-thirds of the book moved pretty slowly, though things picked up later on. Unfortunately, the very end felt a bit like a letdown and left me with a few lingering questions that never got fully resolved. At times, I found the story confusing—enough that I would flip back a few pages to see if I’d missed something important. One detail that distracted me was the formatting: all the chapters set in the earlier timeline were italicized, which seemed unnecessary and a little irritating after a while. The writing was also very graphic in describing autopsies—sometimes to the point of feeling overly detailed and gruesome. Despite these issues, I’d still recommend it, mostly because the characters were well-developed, and the ending wasn’t completely predictable. If you enjoy slow-burn thrillers and don’t mind some graphic forensic details, it might be worth a read.

This book relates a scenario you don't see happen too often - a girl is abducted but is able to escape and return. That is what happens to Megan McDonald - she is abducted from an end-of-high-school/pre-college party, but returns to not only tell her story, but write a book about it. Her book generates great public interest and turns her into a TV talk show heroine who has now "processed her ordeal and healed". Unfortunately, this is not the reality. Megan has not healed, and is attempting, with the aid of her psychiatrist and hypnosis, to recover the memories of her two week ordeal. Then there is the matter of Nicole Cutty, Megan's classmate and fellow party-goer. Nicole also vanished that night, presumably at the hands of Megan's abductor, and has not been seen since. Nicole's older sister, Dr. Livia Cutter, is a forensic pathologist fellow on her way to becoming a medical examiner. A year after her sister's disappearance, Livia feels a great burden of guilt. Consumed by the over-taxing schedule of her fellowship, she knows she turned away from her troubled younger sister's reaching out for her help. Worst of all, she ignored a phone call from her sister on the night of her disappearance. As part of her studies, Livia performs numerous autopsies on bodies brought in to the medical examiner and she is prepared for the day that Nicole is brought in and she can bring some closure to herself and her family. She reads Megan's book and can't help but resent her for coming out alive and apparently well, and profiting from her experience. After meeting Megan, she realizes this is not the case - Megan has never forgotten Nicole and feels guilt for surviving when Nicole has never been found. Together, they begin to investigate the circumstances surrounding the abductions and learn of other similar cases. Along the way, they meet some interesting and disturbing people with information on the case. The story moves back and forth from months prior to the abduction to over a year after Megan's return. There are also a few chapters spoken from the abductor's point of view, with his twisted emotions and skewed rationalization of his actions. At first, I thought this might be confusing, but it is a very effective device that gradually fills in all the history and details until the full picture emerges. There are a few red herrings - I was pretty sure I knew who the abductor was fairly early in the book, but nope - wrong! Then another possible lead emerged - another dead end. The book built to an exciting conclusion and the ending was truly shocking. The characters are extremely well-defined, fleshed-out and detailed - they are described so well, through their thoughts and actions, that I was actually picturing actors and actresses who I felt should portray them in the film that definitely should be made from this book. As a final note, this book was extremely well-edited, with none of the distracting typos or wrong word usage seen in so many e-books. I never rate books down for this type of thing because to me, the story is what is important, but it is nice not to have to deal with it. I highly recommend this book and definitely intend to read more of Mr. Donlea's work.

This was my first Introduction on this author and really enjoy this writing style .. A lot of stuff was happening but you wouldn't get confused because of how it's been written . The plot was good the twist was good and main characters did they part.