This is one of those “it could happen to anyone,” worst nightmare kind of stories. As a parent, one poor decision could change your life forever. No one likes to think about it, but we all know the possibility is out there, and this story examines that in excruciating detail.

Two cousins and their families decide to take a cruise together. They befriend an Argentinian couple and their children. On a shore day, the dads decide to go play golf, and the moms take the kids on an excursion. After a few questionable decisions on the part of the moms, the kids are gone. The story jumps back and forth between the perspective of the kids, being held hostage in a foreign country, and the grieving parents who are desperately trying to get their children home.

There is definitely some skill in building tension here. One of the children is diabetic, which adds an additional level of urgency. I had a hard time connecting with any of these characters, though. The moms, even though they were supposed to be very different people, just didn’t have different voices, and all of the kids were sort of interchangeable in my mind. Even the teen Argentinian wasn’t differentiated from the little American girl very well. I found myself struggling to figure out who was talking during the entire novel. It wasn’t 100% necessary to know who was talking to enjoy the story, though. Will the parents find the kids, or will the worst happen? That’s the driving force that makes you keep reading.

I don't usually read books like this, and was prepared to put it down in a day or two, but I couldn't. I am usually a slow reader, but this book kept me intrigued and I couldn't put it down. The writing was skillful and I liked knowing what each of the characters was thinking and doing, even when they didn't know what was happening to some of the others. The children's story was harrowing and tense, as was the parents' who didn't know what had become of their children. I thought that the book was very believable with all the details about the cruise, and the way the parents were treated by the police and detectives. The aftermath was also pretty realistic, and I was glad the story continued back in the USA so I could learn the fates of all of the characters.

"Do Not Become Alarmed" concerns two cousins, Liv and Nora, who take their families on a cruise. While in port one day, the husbands go off on a golfing trip, while the mothers and children (along with those from an Argentine family they met while onboard the ship) go for a zipline excursion. After their transport van blows a tire, the group decides to go to a nearby beach instead. Nora has been flirting with the guide, Pedro, for a while, so the two of them head off together into the forest. Liv and the other mother, who have been consuming cocktails, fall asleep on the beach. Meanwhile, the tide shifts and the children, who are playing in the water, are swept away. Once everyone sees the children are gone, they immediately begin a search, but are unable to locate them. Thus begins the saga of the frantic and guilt-ridden parents trying to find their children. There are a lot of issues addressed: the divide between the "haves" and the "have nots," cultural differences, child molestation, infidelity, the plight of economic migrants, etc. I thought at first the book would be fairly light, as those in peril were children, but the story quickly turned dark and had plenty of unexpected elements. Then there was the fact that the children were not always together, so it quickly became exhausting to try to keep up with everyone and where they were at any given time. I didn't really care for the ending, which seemed to be an effort to tie everything up, but still left some questions unanswered.

Perhaps one of the most unadventurous vacations you can take is a cruise, right? But things don't go as planned when these three families, who are vacationing together, go ashore, and their children get lost. You experience the story from the perspective of both the children and the parents. I was pretty much riveted by what ensued. We always feel so much safer than we actually are, don't we? At any moment, almost anything can happen. And that's what this book is about.

I could not NOT become alarmed whilst reading Do Not Become Alarmed. Cousins Nora and Liv, along with their husbands and two children each, embark on a two-week Christmas cruise to Mexico and Central America. They befriend a family from Argentina, also with two children. When they all go ashore in Central America, everything goes horribly wrong: the children play on inner tubes in a calm river and then apparently disappear while not being watched by the distracted adults. What follows is every parent and child's nightmare, as the action switches back and forth from the plight of the children and the absolute panic of the adults.

Totally engrossing read. What happens to two seemingly perfect families when their children go missing.

Really disappointed in this book. I had to give up after page 100 and that was stretching it. The writing was very choppy. I had to reread several sentences because they made no sense at all. I really felt like no one had even edited this book. The transitions in the book were not done well. The characters were not appealing or believable. Next.

Two families take a well deserved cruise to Central America together. The adult women are cousins and their husbands and children all get along with each other. Sounds perfect right? Just don't get off the ship. Along with another family they meet on board, the women and children take a zip-line tour in the jungle. What happens next is frightening and their dream vacation quickly turns into their worst nightmare - the kids are lost and in a foreign country. The writing is brisk and matches the fast pace of the unraveling of each family and marriages, emotions and friendship. Your heart goes out to the parents, the kids and the people with a good heart that get mixed up in the middle of it. The scariest part of the story is knowing how easily it could happen and how powerless they all were. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.