I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection. - Sigmund Freud

Marshall and Lori Quinn have taken their young son, Jeff, to the museum. Lori wants to see the Egyptian artifacts again and maybe do some shopping and Marshall and Jeff are going to the planetarium. Marshall falls asleep during the show at the planetarium and when he wakes up Jeff is gone...kidnapped.

Not getting help from the local police (it's never mentioned why the FBI don't get involved), the Quinns, especially Marshall since Lori is incapacitated with grief, try to find out where their son might be.

The story takes place in Chicago and the voices of all the different characters ring true to that location.

Dangerous people, dangerous locations, and dangerous happenings make this thriller one that will have you rushing through the pages to find out what happens next.

This is a fast-paced journey through a parent's worst nightmare and it made me wonder what I would do in similar circumstances.

NOTE: I received this book from Brash Books through Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

Gosh just about got my breath back after holding it for the whole of the last chapter! Very exciting and tense story which managed to make the unhurried and uncaring attitude of the police to the case of a missing little boy be the reason for the tension I felt throughout.
Great book and will look out for Tom Kalonis in future.

Blind Spot by Tom Kakonis Thank you to NetGalley and Brash Books for the ARC, Blind Spot written by Tom Kakonis, a can’t put it down mystery thriller. I was immediately captivated and sickened with the abduction of three year old Jeff Quinn in a planetarium while his father slept. As Marshall and Lori Quinn’s life spirals out of control, the police presence in their son’s missing person case is negligible. Marshall, tries to be patient with law enforcement— but he is haunted by his own guilt. With no background in being a detective, he prints up flyers; Marshall and catatonic Lori (dependent on drugs to assuage her sorrow) hand them out as well as travel by car (with a life-size photo of Jeff) each weekend. Kakonis is skilled in unraveling this mystery; the reader is kept in constant suspense; will Marshall and Lori ever get their son back? I was sick with worry as I read this book but I rooted for Marshall through all of his sincere yet amateur attempts to find his son; highly recommended.

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I would like to thank Brash Books and NetGalley for providing me with an electronic copy to review. What promised to be a fun afternoon at the planetarium for the Quinn family turned out to be anything but. Marshall and Lori's son Jeff is kidnapped during a show and disappears without a trace. After almost three months, the police efforts are effectively nothing. Marshall takes it upon himself to search for Jeff, since he has lost confidence that the police will find his son. Blind Spot chronicles one man's journey to save his son and the exciting conclusion alone makes it worth reading. Although I found the story of the abduction compelling, the excessive dialogue between the criminals and excited utterances to themselves dragged the book down. With a little tightening up, what is now a good book would be a great one. On a quest to find his son, Marshall took himself from an upstanding citizen to one that skirts the law while searching the underbelly of society. This realistic view on what a desperate parent might do to save a child is a worthwhile read and one that I recommend to readers of mystery/ thrillers.

Blind Spot by Tom Kakonis was an intense novel that kept the pages turning. The father started out as mild and nondescript until his son was stolen from him. He made a promise to his wife that he would bring the boy back home. He suffered beatings, sleepless nights, terrors of the unknown while visiting places he had only heard about in his desperate search for his son. In the end he and his son were saved by the man who thought he was adopting a son so that his wife would be happy. He died saving both of them. Well written story

An interesting book with a variety of different writing styles for the dialogue between various characters. The plot was somewhat predictable. The Chicago settings were well-described. The story of the kidnapping of a small child and its effect on all concerned makes for emotional reading, and at times, discomfort. Not one I'd read again..

The perennial parental nightmare - your child disappears and you might have been able to prevent it. The hero's son is kidnapped, and he is missing three months when authorities seem to be slacking off in their search. What will a father do to get his son back? Readers will soon see what lengths a father will go to, and what lines he might cross. The book builds in pace as the Father becomes more and more involved in his search. There are a few well placed twists and turns. I think that this book might lend itself well as a book discussion selection. It certainly made me think.
*I received my copy through NetGalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Tom Kakonis, and Brash Books for providing me with a copy of this book, which allows me to provide you with this review.

New to the Kakonis world of writing, I sought to expand my horizons and determine if he might be an author worth exploring further. After this novel, I am not yet completely sold. A trip to the planetarium goes horribly wrong for Marshall and Lori Quinn when their son, Jeff, goes missing. As they turn to the authorities for help, the Quinns soon realise that they are on their own. No leads, no clues, and few ideas keep the Chicago Police disinterested, or at least without the needed momentum to forge ahead. Marshall decides to take things into his own hands, as he refuses to give up searching. Small leads go nowhere, but he will not stop until Jeff is back home. Meanwhile, Jeff has become a victim of illicit adoption, purchased through channels that trace back to a group of men, each aware of only a small piece of the puzzle. In an attempt to fill a familial void, Jeff (now Davie) plays a role and is led to believe that his birth parents are gone forever, replaced by a new and loving pair. While Marshall Quinn scours his mind and trips on clues, he is frantic to do what no one else seems interested in doing, finding Jeff and returning him to his rightful family? Kanonis keeps the reader curious and wondering from beginning to end in this multi-part novel, which flows effectively through its seven time periods.

While the premise is solid and the delivery keeps the reader engaged, the novel has some issues that I felt were consistent and, at times, highly distracting. Kakonis has a wonderful way with prose, from the early pages of the novel as he analytically describes how his characters tackle eating a hot dog to the pace Marshall takes as he searching suburban Chicago for his son. Juxtaposed with this is a choppy and contraction-filled dialogue, which encapsulates the speech patters likely found in blue-collar factories. The issue here is that the reader is left with such a literary dichotomy that one cannot synthesise the story effectively. Is this high- or low-brow? The story is neither Chicago or class-focussed, leaving me to wonder why Kakokis chose these two styles and layered them together. He does both so well, but they distract from one another. His characters are strong, his pace is decent, and even the flow of the plot keeps the reader wanting to push ahead. It is the delivery that hampers the stellar quality of this novel, which I cannot divorce from its foundational presentation.

Kudos, Mister Kakonis for this entertaining piece. Had some of these issues been found in a larger group or at the editorial level, I could surely have lauded you with more praise for a quick-paced novel that pulls on the heartstrings of all parents.

On a Sunday outing Jeff Quinn disappears while watching a planetarium show. His dad had fallen asleep during the show and wakes up to find his son missing. He looks and asks people if they saw Jeff leave. After contacting the police, Jeff's mother. Lori becomes depressed and her husband Marshall decides to investigate on his own. He is an academic professor so he doesn't have the money for a private investigator. How will he be able to find his son? A small-time hustler deals drugs and stolen good to the blue collar workers at a factory does his deals through a middleman and children to couples who will not ask questions. Marshall gets stiff jolts of reality when asking factory workers about his missing child. Will Marshall persist and find his child alive?

The hero of this story is about an ordinary man who has to pit himself against the in-human forces, he is not equipped to deal with. The author's writing is good. The mystery is suspenseful and fast paced.

Incomparable horror and unimaginable dread for anyone who is a parent. A child kidnapped, a seemingly hopeless situation and law enforcement cannot offer immediate solutions. It happens more often than most realize and usually only the ones solved are sensationalized in the media. This story has twists and turns as the frantic father pursues leads provided by circumstance. Encountering some tough characters, shady criminals lacking in the smarts department and mill workers who live and work within a world of their own. Mill workers from the metals industry are a tough lot and pretty much the same the world over. They congregate at the same drinking establishments and look out for each other. Even those co-workers normally only tolerated become like kin in in situations involving one of their own. This is the crowd the father has to penetrate for answers. A masterful job of providing the backdrop and a spot on description of the comraderies of the workers in this mystery thriller. A fine read, action packed and fast paced. A five star book.

Action packed story!!
What would you do if your child was kidnapped right out from under your nose? That is what happens to Jeff Quinn. His dad, Marshall Quinn has taken his son to the planetarium show. While there, Marshall falls asleep, Awaking to discover that Jeff is gone!! Marshall and his wife, Lori search high and low but are not able to find Jeff. How could he disappear into thin air? Where could he have gone? Why aren’t the police doing more?
The story takes the reader through the feelings that the parents are experiencing. You feel what the parents feel. The main characters and supporting characters are very realistic in their settings. Marshall sets out from his world of being a college professor determined to find his child. He is transported into an unknown world of drug dealers, hustlers, illicit adoption plus blue collar workers with their own dialogue and way of living.
After getting physically beaten up plus the emotional beating of losing his son, will Marshall be able to continue on his own quest for Jeff? Is his son still alive? Where will he turn next?
Fast paced, surprising twists and turns. The tension was thick and well-sustained. Thank you to NetGalley and Brash Books for this eBook. My opinion is my own.

Don't Look Away From Blind Spot

Odell DeCruz (aka Dingo), fancies himself a criminal mastermind with great ambitions, a modern day Moriarty. Marshall Quinn, a college professor, lives comfortably in his insulated world with wife and child. One day the lives of these two men intersect, and nothing will ever be the same again. And not just for these two polar opposites. Odell is not the only criminal and Marshall not the only victim in this tense drama.

Tom Kakonis has written a suspense thriller packed with desperate hopes and stolen dreams. The reader sees, hears and smells the blue collar bars that pepper industrial Chicago, its bucolic suburbs and sad, gray police stations where detectives pursue dead end leads in a hopeless search for a little boy. Kakonis uses his brush with expertise to paint a startling canvas that reveals the hidden world of child trafficking.

When Marshall Quinn takes his toddler to an amusement park he doesn't expect his day of relaxation to turn into a nightmare. But that's what happens when little Jeffie disappears. It's every parent's worst fear. Driven by guilt, Marshall canvases the city with posters and pictures of his stolen son. After weeks turn into months it seems hopeless. Then a chance encounter at a freeway toll booth give Marshall and his wife hope. A woman in a Mercury next to his glances at the poster in Marshall's window and with widening eyes mouths the words, "I know that kid."

The car vanishes, but Marshall is now convinced that someone has seen Jeffie. Using a partial license plate, a bumper sticker and a description of the vehicle (not enough, according to the detective working his son's case), Marshall combs the industrial parks and factories on the tough side of town even as his wife Lori begins to emerge from the paralysis of her grief. Marshall's out of his element, but even a brutal beating by one of Dingo's henchmen isn't enough to dissuade him.

What he doesn't bargain for is the fact that the Norma and Buck, the couple that adopted Jeffie on the black market, may not want to be found, even as their suspicions are awaken. They've already lost once child to leukemia. They're not going to lose another, regardless of who gets hurt.

As for Dingo, this may be just a business deal, but in his line of work, there are no refunds or returns. He'll do whatever it takes to remove this "little problem" that could land him behind bars for a very long time.

As these three forces threaten to collide in a final confrontation, you'll be holding your breath until the very end. Just don't take your eyes off the page. Blind Spot packs a punch that strikes you right in the gut.