Taken

When caterer Kate Bickford's 11-year-old son, Tomas, vanishes after his Little League game in Fairfax, Conn., she races home, hoping to find him. Instead, she discovers a mother's worst nightmare: Tomas's kidnapper, Capt. Steve Cutter (former Special Ops). Cutter is not only an abductor but also a ruthless liar, who frames the wealthy young widow for the murder of her son's baseball coach, Sheriff Fred Corso, whose body has been dumped in Kate's basement freezer. After delivering the ransom that Cutter demands, Kate soon discovers the kidnapper has no intention of returning Tomas, and she is the prime suspect in Corso's murder. To make matters worse, the authorities seem totally indifferent to finding her missing child, the one false note in this otherwise riveting suspense tale from Jordan, pen name for Rodman Philbrick (Freak the Mighty ). Kate hires Maria Savalo, a sharp attorney, and Randall Shane, an eccentric expert in child abduction cases, and even snags assistance from two of her loyal employees to find Tomas. Jordan's full-throttle style makes this an emotionally rewarding thriller that moves like lightning. (July)