I really enjoyed this fast paced thriller that draws from the headlines with regards to police corruption and racism. The mother / daughter piece was enjoyable and I was happy with those in the story who were found to be ultimately innocent.

Stolen Things is a fast paced suspense novel by R.H. Herron that takes you into the life of a law enforcement family.

Laurie, a 911 operator, is a former police officer; married to Omid, the chief of police. They are career law enforcement employees. Dedicated to their jobs, they have raised their teenage daughter, Jojo, amongst their fellow police officers and dispatchers; who are basically their extended family.

When Jojo becomes the victim of a terrible crime, she calls 911 and her mother answers the call. At that moment, Laurie tries to keep her head straight to find out where her daughter is, while fighting the motherly instinct that threatens to sabotage the training that always kicks into action.

There is danger at every turn. Laurie is racing to protect her daughter from an unknown predator, while trying to find Jojo's friend who is missing. As she chases the truth, it becomes obvious that she doesn't know who her daughter is, who her friends are or what she does when she is not home. Jojo is a teenager pushing boundaries from the confines of the way she has been raised to follow her own truth.

Laurie's colleagues and friends are not the people that she thinks they are. She discovers that Omid has been hiding things, making her doubt everything she believes about their life and their relationship. Amidst the turmoil she and Jojo develop trust and mutual respect. They get to know how much they can rely on each other, because those they trusted are not who they believed them to be.

The writer is precise and intense as she takes you along the unraveling of their lives. This story reads like a YA story when you read the teen angst and rebellion from Jojo's point of view. The cover of this book is great, you can almost see Jojo kicking aside her shoes!

The technical part of the investigation and the stories about police dispatch/procedure/lingo dragged a bit at times. That comes from the author's professional background. Quite often we talk about our work and while it's easy for us, it's clear as mud to someone outside the job. This doesn't take away from the writing, it's very good, but the story wrapped up too quickly with an over the top climax.

Thank you @NetGalley @penguinrandomhouse @rachaelherron

Stolen Things by R. H. Herron is an interesting take on a parents’ worst fear - a physically traumatized daughter and her missing best friend. In this case, the parent in question is Laurie Ahmadi, a police dispatcher with the same agency her husband serves as Police Chief. When their daughter wakes up after being drugged with no memory how she got there or exactly what happened to her, and her best friend has disappeared, the Ahmadi family springs into action, desperate to solve the case.

The characters in this book are very well-written and you come to care deeply for them through the course of the book. There are some twists and turns, and at time, you truly don’t know who you can believe and who is lying. My biggest issue with the book as a whole was trying to suspend disbelief to lose myself in the story. As a former dispatcher, I feel like I know too much about the job to read with anything less than brutal scrutiny, and there were many times I found myself rolling my eyes and huffing in annoyance at Laurie.

I do think that for anyone without that background, or less picky than I am, would enjoy this book. It really is good; just not the book for me.

I received a free e-copy of Stolen Things from NetGalley and Dutton in exchange for my review.

Ultimately this book was not for me. The first 25% started out so strong, but the story fell for me from there. I kept feeling like the adult characters were acting in very unrealistic ways, and the teenage daughter was also just not realistic in how she was portrayed. I did want to finish to see what happened in the end, but this one was just okay for me.

However I seem to be in the minority because I have seen so many great reviews for it.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my free advanced copy.

What a great book. This pulled me in right from the first page. I loved the author's writing style and will look forward to reading more from R H Herron! Thank you for the advanced copy.

"Stolen Things" by R.H. Herron is gripping from the start and it'll have you captivated throughout. The beginning is any mother's worst nightmare. A 911 dispatcher receives a call from her very own daughter who has no recollection of the night before or where she's at, you also discover that the daughter's best friend is no where to be found. As the story unfolds you get a dual POV from the mother and her 16 year old daughter. There are some political points woven into the story but it didn't make or break it for me. This is a thriller I'd recommend for sure.

I receive this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The cover is awesome and had me super intrigued. In the beginning I really enjoyed reading this novel. About 1/3 of the way in I became less interested, I wouldn’t say it was bad but the beginning was so fast paced that it was hard to slow the pace that quickly once the first part of the story was over. There were political topics interwoven throughout. Police brutality, abuse of power, race, sexuality were all topics involved in the plot of this book. All relevant topics to the times we are living in. The book had a feministic quality to it. I really wanted more character development. It was an ok read, a lot of potential given the different pieces of the story but it left me wanting more out of it...like there was something missing. I appreciate the opportunity to check this one out. I’d read this author again.

#stolenthings #netgalley

Oh my gosh this was an awesome psychological thriller!! I loved every twist and turn it offered. Loved the storyline and wonderfully developed characters. I really just could not put it down!
Highly recommend!!
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

What a GREAT story, especially for a new author on the horizon! This is her first novel from what I understand, and as a former 911 call center dispatcher, I can see how she brings a lot of hands-on experience to the table.. The story begins with a rape, a murder and a missing girl. The rape takes place at a gathering of citizens protesting police brutality at a famous football player’s house outside San Francisco. Laurie, an ex-cop who is now a 911 dispatcher, and Omid, her police chief husband, spring into action when they hear that the rape victim is their daughter, Jojo..

The story moves very rapidly, keeping the reader leafing through the chapters rapidly to see what happens next. Chapters are short, emotional bursts of energy that fuel the quest for answers. I absolutely loved it, and it is RARE that I read through a book this quickly, but I found I could not put it down. I couldn’t rest until I’d finished it, which is what every suspense thriller should accomplish essentially.

The plot behind the mother and daughter working together to get to the bottom of the story is very well-crafted, demonstrating two very different characters —one is fun-loving and vivacious while the other is deadly serious and efficient. Stolen Things confronts a slew of today’s issues—such as police brutality against black people, institutional scandal and sexual orientation—with complete conviction. It covers so many different ideas and concepts, but mostly, it explores the lengths we go to recover what is lost. Highly recommended to any avid reader looking for that high-thrill chase and family drama. Bravo!

Whoof. Any book that starts out with a 911 operator receiving a call at work from their daughter is bound to be an exciting ride. This story of a mom trying to piece together the story of what happened to her daughter is fantastic. It kept me guessing for quite some time.The idea of waking up in such a terrifying position - not knowing what happened to you, or why there is a dead body in the house you are in... absolutely terrifying.

This had me hooked since the beginning. A great psychological thriller, that will have you burning through the pages.

Laurie Ahmadi has worked as a 911 police dispatcher in her quiet Northern California town for nearly two decades. She considers the department her family; her husband, Omid, is its first Arab American chief, and their teenaged daughter, Jojo, has grown up with the force. So when Laurie catches a 911 call and, to her horror, it’s Jojo, the whole department springs into action.

Jojo, drugged, disoriented, and in pain, doesn’t remember how she ended up at the home of Kevin Leeds, a pro football player famous for his on-the-field activism and his work with the CapB—“Citizens Against Police Brutality”—movement. She doesn’t know what happened to Kevin’s friend and trainer, whose beaten corpse is also discovered in the house. And she has no idea where her best friend Harper, who was with her earlier in the evening, could be.

Fantastically awesome thriller! A very refreshing and different story. I loved it! The two POV worked so well. The well developed characters and emotional relationships. A true page turner with enough creep factor and twists to be un-put-down-able and I will be watching for more books by this author.
5 stars!

Stolen Things is a thrill ride that'll have you questioning what you thought you knew. The story kicks off with a dynamic start, having Laurie get the 911 call that no mother ever wants to hear. After the initial drama dies down, so does the story, and I had a hard time getting through this one. There's enough twists to keep you captivated, and I really just made it to the end cuz I needed answers. Some things were a little far fetched, but it was a gripping story overall.

This book first caught my attention for 2 reasons, 1) the name made me think it was another author i'd read and 2) the picture of the book cover! What would you do if you were a 911 operator, you answer a call and hear Mom, help me!. That's what happens when Laurie picks up the phone and hears her daughter JoJo on the other end of the line. The police arrive, including JoJo's dad the police chief, and Laurie at the home of a football stars and find JoJo. There are 3 people in the house, two don't remember what happened and one is dead--and JoJo's friend Harper is missing. This begins the hunt to figure out what went on in the house. This book grabbed me from the first few pages and when I thought I knew what was going to happen, the plot changed. This was a very intense read and I highly recommend it. Will have to read more from this author!!

Wow. This was a very action paced fun ride of a read!! From the first chapter to the last I was hooked. This book keeps you guessing from the beginning and that is what I want in a mystery. The characters were not perfect in fact they made me angry sometimes in things they did or said or things they thought,. But thats what makes the story even better. There human.
A married couple who are in the police force and there daughter have a nightmare of events which spiral out of control and trust is shattered. A friend goes missing and mother and daughter will do anything to find her and get her back. Absolutely a must read!

Great book! I loved the fact that being a 911 operator was explored and I felt like I got to experience what it's like to deal with painful phone calls. This book was a great, quick read and I would recommend this book and the author for those who love a good thriller novel!

The story pulls you in right from the start, and you get a sense of what it is like for the dispatchers working together within the culture of the police hierarchy.

Laurie was a fully formed, fully flawed real person. She knew her life wasn't perfect, but also knew that perfection wasn't necessary to be happy. She took her life as it came to her and knew how to make the most of it. Her daughter Jojo was respectful of her mom and aware enough to work at the relationship and keep the lines of communication open, probably making Jojo a bit more mature than many teenagers.

I liked that the issues of racism and police brutality were an acknowledged part of life, and the characters accepted this and accepted that sometimes behavior had to be changed. This mostly revolved around the football player character of Kevin, specifically whether it was safe for him to be seen entering and leaving a large house in a white neighborhood. I would have liked to have heard more from Kevin’s point of view.

The conspiracy story kept me guessing about the relationships between the characters and how everything was connected. New characters keep entering the story throughout and these police officers ultimately are the key to solving the crime and the connections between events. All the characters come with baggage and as their background stories are revealed, you see new motivations, so no one is as simple as an initial brief social interaction makes them seem.

The story kept me reading and I wanted to finish quickly to see how everything was connected. The ending is sad yet satisfying.

And I am back to my crime fiction/mystery novels after a quick break with Red Rising. I kept seeing Stolen Things at the book store and was completely attracted to the cover. It is just a haunting image of a lost child/person. Have you been seeing other book covers that attract your attention immediately?

Thank you to @netgalley & @duttonbooks for sending me a copy for my honest review.

Tiny Synospsis: Laurie Ahmadi is a bay area 911 dispatcher and receives the worst phone call of her life - a call from her own daughter asking for HELP. She had been abducted & kidnapped. The scene when the police finally arrives is mayhem including her own daughter injured and a dead body and a pro football player. The mother/daughter team up in this novel to find the killer/kidnappers themselves as they are unable to trust those around them.

My Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ of 5

Warning: This book does contain very serious subjects like rape. I must say that this book surely starts with a bang. I was very fascinated with how fast the story was going and the thrill ride that I felt the direction was going in. Then I got stuck in the middle as it seemed to be taking so long to get further along. Both Laurie and her daughter Jojo - I was not engaged with their characters and the book does generally suggest a slightly biased view on the police force from the author - which is very evident throughout the book. All in all, great beginning, slow in the middle, the ending pulled me right back in!

Stolen Things brings the fears of a mother, and 911 dispatcher, to life when she receives a distressed phone call from her daughter. Jojo, is upset, drugged, and sexually assaulted and Laurie instantly has to spring into action. Over the course of the book Laurie and Jojo attempt to figure out what really happened the night of her call.

While the premise interested me, I still was unable to fully get into the mindset of the characters. I had a like/dislike relationship with Laurie who at once was protective and strong but also misinformed and overwhelming. I do appreciate that the author tried to make the emotions as strong as possible, because of course after life changing events emotion is always high.
Laurie liked to think that she knew everything that Jojo was doing although in reality she didn't know much about her own daughter. Due to that, it was nice to have the rotating point of view so that Laurie wasn't that only voice and I could actually learn about Jojo.

As for the ending of the novel, I see why the author ended it where they did. It was a good stopping point. However, I still felt like I need more closure than I was given.

Thank you so much to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for the free copy of this book for my honest review.

I was in the mood for a good thriller or suspense novel and this definitely satisfied that craving for me. It's a very fast read as I finished it in about 6 hours but while it was good, it wasn't great.

I feel like the police brutality and indiscretions that go on within departments was a great subject to write about and I loved the mother/daughter team trying to figure out who the suspect is and where the kidnapped girl was taken but overall I felt this book was lacking a little for me. While it had plenty of drama and suspense, the author seemed to drop too many hints about who the suspect was and I hate being able to guess the plot twist at any given time in the book.

I know the author is writing under a pseudonym and kudos to them for writing this book but it's definitely not one I will be purchasing.