I really liked the way The Girl Who Was Taken was written: multiple POVs, weaving in and out of present day and prior to the abduction. (If the title isn't enough of a giveaway, it's about two girls who disappear).

It's not that I didn't enjoy this, because in many ways I did. Suspense/crime thrillers are some of my favorites. I just, I don't know...was expecting the "whodunit" to be more of a twist? Don't get me wrong--I didn't guess it at all, but I still felt kind of let down by the reveal.

Thank you, NetGalley and Kensington Books!

I thoroughly enjoyed this fantastic book. The book is well written with a great plot. Warning there is a cliffhanger.

Wow. The ending of this book was like a well-placed whap to the side of the head; I had to set my Kindle aside for a moment and just reflect. Little lies, obfuscation, and self-denial cloud the stories and memories of all the key characters, including the dead / missing. Not all is as it seems; family and friends know so much less than they think about those closest to them. Loved the twisty plot which blew out my suppositions more than once. A great read!

I think Charlie Donlea is trying to kill me! The suspense in his first 2 novels is incredible!!! This was better than his first, which is saying a lot. Can't wait to read more

A year ago, Nicole and Megan were both kidnapped. Megan returns and Nicole does not. With the pressure from her family and the media, Megan authors a book. Nicole's sister Livia, determined to find out what happened to Nicole, begins doing some digging of her own.

I thought this book was ok. The back and forth in the timeline didn't really work. The author clumsily used foreshadowing, which ruined the "surprise" when something actually happened. I did think that Livia's profession, a forensic pathologist, was fascinating. Livia's point of view was particularly interesting, it isn't one that you come across often. Overall, not a bad book, but not one I would reread or recommend.

The Girl Who Was Taken is a great new thriller about two high school girls who are mysteriously abducted from a party and the police can find no leads as to what happened to them. Miraculously, two weeks later one of the girls, Megan, escape's from her capture. She quickly becomes a local hero but what happened to Nicole the other girl?

While in captivity Megan was given large amounts of ketamine and her memory is very fuzzy but with the help of her therapist small details are starting to return. Nicole's sister, Livia has not given up hope that she will one day find out what happened to her sister. Sadly, Nicole is not the only missing girl in the region but police are having difficulties finding any connections. Can Livia and Megan figure out who is responsible for the kidnappings? Will they find Nicole before it is too late?

The story transitions between current day and a few weeks before the girls were abducted while switching between character perspectives. This story is gripping and suspenseful with twists and turns to the very end. I would definitely recommend this to fans of Gillian Flynn or Karin Slaughter.

The Girl who was Taken by Charlie Donlea is one of the best books I have read in a while
By Pam McDaniel on May 1, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
The Girl who was Taken by Charlie Donlea is one of the best books I have read in a while. I love that the it is written so it is fast paced & keeps you interested until the very end.
Livia Cutty is training to be a forensic pathologist at the coroners office. A year ago her sister Nicole & Megan McDonald went missing at the same time at of school end of year bash in a small town in North Carolina. Megan escaped and returns home but Nicole is still missing.
When a body shows up was connected to Nicole ,Livia starts checking into his connection with her sister & finds some mysterious and dark clues as well as other missing girls and bodies that could be connected. Megan wants to help her while she is trying to remember the events of her kidnappingthat she has blocked out.
It is a shocker when you find out who is responsible and not predictable. I highly recommend this book.
Thank you to Netgalley, Kinsington Books ,Charlie Donlea for sending me this book in exchange for a review.

I loved this! I'm excited to read other books by this author. I love my suspense/thrillers & this didn't disappoint in the slightest. I liked that it wasn't in the point of view of the detective, but the medical examiner. I now want to read more books from that pov, their jobs are so interesting. A sister pulling out all the stops to find her sister & even joining forces with a victim come home was great.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this novel.

I have seriously been blown away by this book. I enjoyed Summit Lake by this author, but this story was even better.
THE GIRL WHO WAS TAKEN by Charlie Donlea had me tangled up in plot twists and turns that left me completely surprised at the climax of the plot. I knew the answer, no I didn’t. I knew the answer, no I didn’t. I could NOT put this book down!
The majority of the story is told in the present with Livia Cutty, a fellow in forensic pathology wondering if her missing sister will ever appear on her autopsy table and Megan McDonald, the girl who got away, when both Megan and Nicole Cutty disappeared one summer night. Both are searching for the truth of the girls’ disappearance for differing reasons. Their search is intertwined with flashbacks to the months and days before the abduction and the story of Megan and Nicole’s summer after their senior year in high school.
These characters where all realistic and unforgettable. Livia is an intelligent and driven character. Her career is as important to her as her drive to find out what happened to her sister. She does not throw it away, but uses it in her search. I loved her use of kickboxing for stress relief. Megan was not the same girl she was before her abduction and she still doesn’t remember everything from the two weeks she was gone. Mr. Donlea did a great job of showing her before and after and the psychological changes. Nicole was a teen in rebellion and it took so little to tip her over into even darker things. Someone who she thought understood her, changed her whole world in one night.
This was a well written suspense with a plot that keeps you on your toes. This book will definitely be a recommendation read to all my suspense loving friends.
Thanks so much to Kensington Books and Net Galley for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for and honest review. I loved it!

I don't normally like books that flash from past to present and back again numerous times , but I did enjoy this one. I totally didn't see it coming! I thought all along I had it figured out then bam! Boy was I wrong! Great suspense and excitement!

The more secrets that were unearthed the darker everything got in ways I didn’t expect and I loved it, I couldn’t put this book down. This book was chilling and downright sinister in the best possible way.

The narrative is put together piece by piece as the story shifted back and fourth between the past and present. The story is told from multiple points of view in a twisting narrative that made the investigation feel more authentic. Everyone had their own feelings about the missing girls, their own suspicions, and their own regrets, and because of it the path is never really clear.

As the kidnapping case runs cold, Livia takes it upon herself to find her own answers, looking desperately for closure. I really enjoyed Livia’s narrative and getting a a good look at forensic pathology. I didn’t even mind that some of the descriptions of her autopsies were sometimes graphic, it was fascinating seeing a crime from a new perspective. Her position as a medical professional undergoing a fellowship gave her access to some interesting sources of information.

I also greatly enjoyed the commentary about the media circus that surrounds survivors of horrific kidnapping cases; round the clock news reports, interviews, book deals, television specials and movies, it never ends. What does this all do to the victims, reducing them to prime time entertainment? This book asked a lot of tough question and was highly critical of the way that the media frenzy chews up and spits out what’s left of the rescued.

The Girl Who Was Taken was a cool mystery that kept me guessing up until the very end. Every time I thought I had things figured out I’d immediately get thrown off my trail. To say that there are a few red herrings in this story is an understatement, and in fact the plot relies heavily on them, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. When the mystery started to really unfold I was kicking myself that I had missed some subtle details, stuff that a more astute reader could’ve probably picked up on better than me. Even so, following the clues and trying to figure the mystery out was an absolute joy for me and I had a lot of fun despite the extremely dark subject matter.

4.5 stars.
Holy cow, this was my first from this author and I will definitely be reading more of their work.

The first part of this book was pretty uneventful. Hit about 25% and I found myself saying *plot twist* around every corner.
Megan and Nicole go to a party, neither return and there don't seem to be any real clues as to what became of the girls. **Plot Twist** Megan mysteriously pops up two weeks later. Fast forward a year and we are following Livia, who is working on becoming a Medical Examiner in hopes of one day finding answers about her sister.
This book was a chilling thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.


**abduction/abuse triggers

I typically judge a suspenseful mystery by how nervous I get and if it makes my heart race. This book definitely did both with this unique take on kidnapping cases. I thought I had it all figured out but was pleasantly surprised by a big twist!

.5 Stars. Charlie Donlea returns following his debut, Summit Lake with THE GIRL WHO WAS TAKEN – a disturbing, and evil sadistic game of kidnapping and abduction goes bad. The Capture Club. More than one monster? An abandoned haunted subdivision Stellar Heights. A psychopath. Lies and secrets. A sister who will not give up.

Set in a small southeastern town of North Carolina (not in an area worthy of scenery or landmarks), we meet a rebellious teen. A selfish, self-centered girl who is out of control. However, she has cried wolf too many times. Now she really needs help and it may be too late for saving.

Flashing back and forth, we learn of two girls who go missing. Megan McDonald and Nichole Cutty. Megan was taken, the daughter of Emerson Bay’s Sherriff in the summer of 2016. Nichole was taken about the same time. Megan goes free. Nichole is still missing.

One year later, Megan is out with a book, called Missing. A so-called true story account of her abduction and courageous escape. Did the killer let her go, or did she escape? Does she remember the events or has she repressed the horrific events?

However, turns out Megan is not forthcoming about the real truths of her abduction. It was a front to keep people at bay. She had been on her way to Duke University. Everyone wanted to know the morbid details of her captivity. She needed to be a success story. Her abductor had let her go.

Nichole was still missing. What happened to Nichole and what is Megan hiding?

“A life might end, but sometimes their case lives forever.” - Gerald Colt, MC

Donlea spends most of the book featuring Livia Cutty, the sister of Nichole. She chose forensics as a career because someday her parents would get the call that her sister’s body had been found. There would be questions about what happened to her and what they did to her. She needed to be the person to gather those answers. She chose to take a position in Raleigh, NC, close to where she grew up in Emerson Bay. Livia, a pathologist was happy to be a part of a well-funded program run by Dr. Gerland Colt, widely considered in the world of forensics as a pioneer.

She had to do something for her sister. She was not there when Nichole placed the call that night. It was always drama with Nichole. Livia could only imagine finding redemption in some form and be able to help her sister in the future.

A body comes in which is thought to be a suicide. Turns out the guy, Casey had dated her sister Nichole. However, was it suicide or murder? Her sister was wild, and out of control before she was taken. What had she gotten herself into with someone like this?

Livia thought something was off about Megan’s book and her account of her abduction. However, the book was the closest thing she had gotten about the real details of the night Megan and Nichole were taken.

However, were they actually taken at the same time? What really happened and how are these two connected? What about other girls that were taken. Are they connected? A similar drug was used. We learn about the events leading up to the abduction. (did not find this very interesting).

Livia was ten years older than Nichole. Still, Livia knew most of Nichole’s friends from that time. Jessica Tanner had been one of her sister’s closest friends. She receives a call about Casey. The guy they had pulled out of the bay. He was the guy Nichole was dating that summer before she disappeared.

From here the bulk of the book goes on and on about the sick immature games Nichole played and the Capture Club (pretty far out). Nichole was self-centered, narcissistic, jealous, and manipulated everyone, seeking attention from everyone, mostly guys. Rebellion. She was part of this cult-club, who enjoyed playing games obsessed with abductions. (So tired of hearing about this girl, was hoping she would never be found).

A dangerous dark game. Nichole was jealous of Megan. Games she played. However, her plan backfires. A cast of characters from boyfriends promiscuous behavior, drugs, sex, and more abductions. Casey was creepy as well as many others. A bag over the head. Where are these bodies going?

We hear about all gory details of the bodies coming into the examiner’s office and not so realistic attempts by Livia to investigate the whereabouts of her sister and other missing elements. She finally teams up with Megan leading them to the real horror of the night both girls were taken.

My take: This was a difficult review to write as for why I have delayed posting. I hate to be negative; however, being honest here with a much lower rating than the first book. I really enjoyed Summit Lake, Donlea’s debut; however, was not fully engaged on any level with The Girl Who Was Taken.

Not many likable characters here and the best part of the book starts about 80%. Fast action and suspense. Then after all the buildup for an entire book, the identity of the killer is revealed, and like nothing happens. It ends. This would have been an opportunity for an entire book here. Very similar to another book I just finished (another 3 star).

Livia and Megan learn the identity and (it was like, now OK, and let’s move on- what’s for dinner)? From both sides. No why or explanation? No flushing out. No emotion. I am not a fan of cutting off a book this abruptly. Would like to have more focus and time spent on the latter part and less on the teenage disturbing events. Will not go into more details, with spoilers. I would have liked to hear more from Megan, her childhood and parents. Would have been an intriguing story here.

However, Donlea does a good job with the forensics, even though most folks in her situation would not be allowed all the liberties, but again this is fiction. The author offers suspense and action with a number of red herrings.

Sure the book will attract a variety of readers on a more positive note since it was outside- the-box. Would like to have a much more interesting city in NC for the setting, which was not expanded upon here. Really enjoy this author, so hoping for something different next go around. Love the Australia cover more so than the US.

I think my overall reading interests are changing to less dark thrillers, and enjoying more: domestic suspense, literary and historical fiction. Finding the more I read my book interests (genre) change.

A special thank you to Kensington and NetGalley for an early reading copy.

JDCMustReadBooks

This was one of the best books I've read, I thought it was very well written, this is the first book I read by Charlie Donlea. I didn't see the ending coming, I hated to put this book down, there was so many twist and turns you almost felt part of what was happening, without giving up any book secrets I hope there's another one on the way!!!!!

This is a black story pieced together with fragments from different times involving different characters. The writing is clear and helps to create good mental images. As the plot unfolds various characters seem to be the possible villain, but the unveiling of the monster is a real surprise. The author manages to cover much physical torture, violence and sex without becoming too graphic. All of the principle characters are covered in depth and show the good and bad features of real people, Perhaps the strongest point of this book is the reality of the characters involved. The book is engrossing, and the ending is a real surprise.

THE GIRL WHO WAS TAKEN by Charlie Donlea is haunting story of the abduction of two girls, one who escapes and returns home and one who is still missing. The missing girl's sister, Dr. Livia Cutty, is an aspiring medical examiner who has dreamed of finding the answers to mystery of her missing sister, Nicole, and hoping maybe through her job the answers would come. A clue shows up in the form a dead body that is identified as a guy that used to date Nicole. Dr. Cutty, along with the escaped abductee, Megan McDonald, uses that clue to find more and more clues to lead them to what happened to Nicole.
Donlea carries the reader through many layers of discovery throughout the book, including several misdirections, and while the ending was a bit predictable, THE GIRL WHO WAS TAKEN was a good read that several times I found myself not wanting to put it down. Donlea's supporting cast, for the most part, was an interesting bunch and I felt them to be real and believable. The book slowed down some in the middle, as most mystery thrillers tend to, and I wanted maybe one more major twist that never quite came.
I would definitely read another book by Charlie Donlea, and being from North Carolina myself, I appreciated the way Donlea depicted the attitudes of the region and small town perspectives on the world.

Last year i read the debut novel of the author, Summit Lake, and i enjoyed it a lot. So naturally i was so excited about his new book. And what a book it was! The story blew my mind away!

In that summer night, two girls were taken, Nicole Cutty and Megan McDonald. Two weeks after, one escaped, the other did not.

Livia Cutty, a fellow in pathology and the sister of the girl who was taken, is still searching for answers about what happened to her sister that night, a year ago. And Megan, the girl who escaped, is becoming a celebrity after writing a book about her two weeks of captivity. Only, for her, the sessions of hypnosis with her shrink are bringing back memories far more disturbing than she can handle.
Chance has it that when a body turns in the autopsy table of Dr Cutty, she founds an unexpected connection with Nicole. As she starts investigating, she uncovers more than just the disappearence of two girls.

I really liked how the story was structured, the alternation of the chapters between the present with Livia's investigation and Megan's findings and the past featuring the last weeks leading to the night of the abduction and everything that happened during that time.

I did not really try to figure out who it was behind all this, i was so caught in the story that i felt i couldn't read fast enough to finally find out what happened. It was intriguing, fascinating and also touching.
Needless to say that i did not see the end coming, and i was really surprised.

Many times, even with a 5 stars story, i still find some small parts that i did not enjoy as much as the rest of the story. But this book is the perfect 5 stars for me, for this year.
In fact, i am curious whether the author is going to consider making this as a series featuring Dr Livia Cutty, the medical examiner. Her way of investigating was interesting, and i definitely wouldn't mind following her around again.

I think it's a must read for any thriller fan.

Thank you NetGalley, the Publisher and Author for this copy.

4.5☆  Gripping thriller

This is my first book by Charlie, and it didn't disappoint!

Megan and Nicole attend a party...neither return home... what happened to them both remain a mystery!

Until Megan returns! She miraculously finds her way home from a mysterious bunker deep into the wood.
What happened to Nicole??  She was never found. After police searches. No evidence.

Fast forward one year and Megan cashes in on her disappearance by writing a book, making her famous.

As time goes on we discover another body has been discovered, could there be a link to Nicole's disappearance?

Nicole's sister Livia works in forensics pathology and she is determined not to give up on her sister.
When she uncovers another body on her autopsy table,she believes there is a link. She goes to Megan for help. She is desperate to uncover the truth and what really happened to them both that night.

We see Megan going to therapy in the hope to unlock memories to help herself and Livia, uncover the truth.

Livia was such a strong lead character. She was determined and very likeable. I really felt for her. The unknown was awful for her.
Megan although not exactly much help was a good character. She tries her best to help Livia which was very brave.
Nicole for me was not the best character. But I believe her character was not meant to be likeable. She was annoying.

There are twists and turns and nothing is quiet what it seems. For once I didn't predict the kidnapper.
I like the short chapters and the glimpses into the past to uncover the truth.

A gripping read, some very descriptive autopsies, and a nail biting race to uncover the truth.
Definetly recommend to readers who love intrigue, mystery and page turning thrillers.

I had high expectations after really enjoying the first novel by this author, Summit Lake. I'm not disappointed. As an avid mystery and crime reader, I read a lot of detective and missing person books. There's no detective (or at least not officially) here, but we have missing girls and a medical examiner protagonist with a personal interest in the case. It's all done in a really unique way, which was refreshing. Final rating: 4.5.

Two girls were taken one night after being at the same party. One returns. One doesn't. The teenager still missing is Nicole, Livia's little sister. She feels a tremendous amount of guilt over not answering the phone for her the night she vanished and being too busy with her fledgling career to consent to a visit. When the body of a man ends up on the morgue table for her to autopsy, something niggles at her. Digging into his past and the end of his life leads her to some disturbing but intriguing clues about his connection to Nicole. She contacts Megan, "the girl who lived" for help.

Megan may have returned, but her life isn't the same. Her mother treats her like a child again, a delicate little girl she has to keep a watchful eye over. Her father, a sheriff, feels terrible guilt he wasn't the one who found her. She works a menial job and puts off college, visits the older man that found her the day she ran from the woods to make her escape weekly, and regularly visits a shrink. It's the shrink that wrote most of her book, which is currently climbing the bestseller list. She thought it would get her parents off her back and give her time alone, but it seems her celebrity is only growing... much to her dismay.

Livia becomes obsessed with connecting the dead man to the two cases and figuring out how to find her sister. She's convinced she's dead, but needs answers and justice. This may put her in danger, because girls are still being dumped and disappearing... and they have no idea how deep it goes.

Some of the scenes in the morgue might be too much for the very squeamish. I don't consider myself to have a super strong stomach, but they didn't bother me. A little creepy, though!

I was given an ARC of this novel from Net Galley and Kensington Books, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.