Near the start of this uneven supernatural thriller from Mack (Kabuki: The Alchemy
), Tom Nash, who can hear long-distance prayers that oblige him to respond, leaves his near-term pregnant wife and his handyman job in Sawyer, Pa., after receiving a telepathic plea for help from a kidnapped 11-year-old girl somewhere in New York City. Luckily, Nash soon comes across a poster depicting the missing girl, Phaedra Doyle, and manages to talk his way into the Brooklyn townhouse of her wealthy widowed mother, Anna. While the kidnappers have warned Anna not to go to the FBI or police, Anna trusts Nash enough to authorize him to do what he can to recover her daughter. While Erin Sanchez, a supportive local who shares his gift, tells Nash its source, Mack never adequately explains such issues as why Nash isn't overwhelmed by prayers or why he should hear ones far away but not closer by. (July)
