Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
New York : Pocket Star Books, 2008.
Description
A razor-sharp thriller from the Edgar Award-nominated author who "blurs the lines between dreams and nightmares" (Abilene Reporter-News, TX). Darby McCormack was in high school when she first encountered the killer: someone murdered a woman in the woods where Darby and her two best friends were partying. His race to silence the witnesses was sure-footed and violent--but somehow Darby survived. Twenty-five years later, Darby is a crime-scene investigator for the Boston Police Department, and a chilling case--a woman's late-night abduction--has her uncovering strange leads to missing women, past and present. As forensic clues lead her closer to a psychopath called the Traveler, Darby must finally resolve the nightmare of her past and come face-to-face with a killer who is determined to keep the missing--and the horrors they endured at his hands--from ever coming to light.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member mariebubblyster
The book begins brilliantly with the portrayal of the CSI's past. The reader is drawn to believe that author wants to flesh out the character(The heroine in a lead role ..) before coming to the actual case, It is only much later in the book that one finally understands the relationship between the
The book is amazingly written with surprises at every turn, and one has to keep turning the page with much anticipation as you are literally not prepared for what happens next.
The author has chosen to portray a complex blend of emotions that one faces when a person is faced with tragedy. Here the heroine watches as her mother fades away to cancer, tries to find the link between the killer and the missing women and the raving, emancipated woman that was discovered, all the while carrying the baggage of her past experience and brush with murder.
"He came for me, not for her"
Read When: You want your heart pounding and when you want a quality read.
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CSI's past traumatic experience and the current case.The book is amazingly written with surprises at every turn, and one has to keep turning the page with much anticipation as you are literally not prepared for what happens next.
The author has chosen to portray a complex blend of emotions that one faces when a person is faced with tragedy. Here the heroine watches as her mother fades away to cancer, tries to find the link between the killer and the missing women and the raving, emancipated woman that was discovered, all the while carrying the baggage of her past experience and brush with murder.
"He came for me, not for her"
Read When: You want your heart pounding and when you want a quality read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member seldombites
This was a real thriller. Surprises around every corner, and a great storyline. Chris Mooney writes in an easy to read style that draws you into the story and makes you forget the world around you. Definitely a good read.
LibraryThing member readingrat
A fast-paced thriller about a serial killer and the race to capture him before he kills again.
LibraryThing member JohnGrant1
A few years ago I read and much liked this author's Deviant Ways. How amazing, I thought, that the prominent science journalist could write such an effective, original -- and, as I recall, pretty darned sexy -- thriller. So I bought this one. Much disappointed by it -- it's the standard tale of the
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sassy female investigator, here a Boston cop, who's on the trail of the serial killer who wrecked her childhood and now seems to have started up again, threatening her once more, imprisons his victims in an underground labyrinth, proves to be the uptight FBI asshole supposedly investigating the case, ya-de-ya-da -- I checked up and discovered there are two Chris Mooneys, and this is the other one. I can't help feeling I've been the victim of a bait-and-switch. From here on I'll stick with the nonfictional CM. Deviant Ways was good, though: let me not take that away from this author.Meanwhile we have this mensurational nightmare, proof that Atria don't bother copyediting:
. . . near the bottom of the floor was a rectangular-sized hole . . . (p307)
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LibraryThing member jguidry
I loved this book. The action started immediately and did not stop until the very end. The twists and turns gripped you until the very end. I also found myself really enjoying Darby's character. Her feelings and emotions are very realistic.
LibraryThing member PhillipThomas
Great characters and a plot with a few twists result in a fast-paced thriller that was an enjoyable read.
LibraryThing member Carol420
In 1984, a woman is strangled in the woods around Belham, Massachusetts, the killer is unexpectedly seen by three teenage girls. He later tracks down the teenagers and kills two of them, but the third one (Darby McCormick) barely manages to escape his vengeful wrath. That incident haunts Darby for
Shift to the present day and we find Darby is working hard and enjoying her life. Then she is assigned to work a new case that involves a teenage girl being forcibly taken from her home by an unknown killer. While working the crime scene, Darby finds one of the victims hiding beneath the porch of a recent victim's house and soon discovers that the killer has done this many times before. What Darby doesn't realize is that "The Traveler" is back in town and that he has his eyes dead-set on her. He wants the one that got away and will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
This is a fast paced thriller that will keep you turning the page and wanting more long after the book is finished. Darby McCormick is a down to earth, real protagonist with whom most readers can readily relate.
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the rest of her life and is one of the primary reasons that she becomes a crime-scene investigator for the Boston Police Department. Shift to the present day and we find Darby is working hard and enjoying her life. Then she is assigned to work a new case that involves a teenage girl being forcibly taken from her home by an unknown killer. While working the crime scene, Darby finds one of the victims hiding beneath the porch of a recent victim's house and soon discovers that the killer has done this many times before. What Darby doesn't realize is that "The Traveler" is back in town and that he has his eyes dead-set on her. He wants the one that got away and will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
This is a fast paced thriller that will keep you turning the page and wanting more long after the book is finished. Darby McCormick is a down to earth, real protagonist with whom most readers can readily relate.
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LibraryThing member Lauren2013
The Missing
4 Stars
Synopsis
In 1984, three young girls witness an attack on a young woman in the woods and become the target of a serial killer. Only one , Darby McCormick, survives. Years later, Darby is a forensic investigator called to the scene of a teenage abduction. As the evidence piles up,
Review
A well-written, fast paced and intricate thriller.
While the serial killer plot is not that original (reminiscent of Patterson's Kiss the Girls), there are some excellent twists that keep you turning the pages. There are also sufficient clues to figure out the killer's identity, and as such it is not that much of a surprise. There is, however, one more unexpected twist right at the end.
The characters are well-developed and likeable, especially the heroine. So often, female investigators come across as cold and humorless but that is not the case for Darby McCormick. The forensic details are interesting and never become excessively technical.
The story is well-crafted but not nearly as creepy as I though it would be. For a truly disturbing, lock all your doors read, I recommend Fear Itself by Jonathan Nasaw. There are also several glaring editing errors in the hardcover copy that tend to distract from the overall flow.
All in all, an entertaining thriller and I will definitely be continuing with the series.
4 Stars
Synopsis
In 1984, three young girls witness an attack on a young woman in the woods and become the target of a serial killer. Only one , Darby McCormick, survives. Years later, Darby is a forensic investigator called to the scene of a teenage abduction. As the evidence piles up,
Show More
Darby finds herself tracking a psychopathic serial killer known only as the Traveler and soon comes face-to-face with the terror from her nightmares.Review
A well-written, fast paced and intricate thriller.
While the serial killer plot is not that original (reminiscent of Patterson's Kiss the Girls), there are some excellent twists that keep you turning the pages. There are also sufficient clues to figure out the killer's identity, and as such it is not that much of a surprise. There is, however, one more unexpected twist right at the end.
The characters are well-developed and likeable, especially the heroine. So often, female investigators come across as cold and humorless but that is not the case for Darby McCormick. The forensic details are interesting and never become excessively technical.
The story is well-crafted but not nearly as creepy as I though it would be. For a truly disturbing, lock all your doors read, I recommend Fear Itself by Jonathan Nasaw. There are also several glaring editing errors in the hardcover copy that tend to distract from the overall flow.
All in all, an entertaining thriller and I will definitely be continuing with the series.
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Language
Original publication date
2007-03-20
Physical description
304 p.; 17 inches
ISBN
0743463811 / 9780743463812