The Girl Who Was Taken

In this fast-moving page-turner from Donlea (Summit Lake), fledgling forensic pathologist Livia Cutty is determined to find answers about the fate of her missing sister, Nicole, who vanished from a high school beach party in Emerson Bay, N.C., a year or so earlier, along with classmate Megan McDonald. Megan has become a media darling since her recent escape from the bunker where she was held. A body brought to Livia’s Raleigh, N.C., morgue provides her first break. The badly decomposed corpse of a young man with puzzling injuries is identified as that of drifter Casey Delevan. When the news of the man’s death goes public as part of a homicide investigation, Livia gets a call from a friend of Nicole’s claiming a link between Casey and Nicole. Starting to investigate in earnest with the aid of emotionally fragile Megan, the sympathetic doctor stumbles across a disturbing secret side to her sister—and into very real danger. Donlea skillfully maximizes suspense by juggling narrators and time all the way to the shocking—albeit implausible—final twists. [em]Agent: Marlene Stringer, Stringer Literary Agency. (May) [/em]