My husband, our young son, and I fostered seventeen dogs during the pandemic. Our son cried every time a dog went to their forever home. A couple who adopted one of our fosters was so touched by his devotion that they offered to give him back the dog. When he said no, they sent him a box of toys for his future fosters. I thought it was so sweet, until my thriller mind starting thinking, what if they liked him too much? What if they came back one day and took him right out of the driveway without us knowing? And that was how the premise of my book, What Is Mine came about.
Of course, the couple is lovely and would never do that. But how many times have parents found themselves in situations where they wondered, what if? Another time, the school bus was really late, and I had to get to work. I didn’t know what to do. Suddenly, a car pulled up and a woman with at least three kids in the back seat told me the bus had gotten stuck and wasn’t coming. Would I like her to take my child to school? Frantic because I had to teach a class, I thanked her. It was only as I was driving away that I realized I’d sent my son off with a virtual stranger. How did I know she wasn’t a kidnapper driving around the neighborhood collecting kids because she’d seen that the bus was stuck? I panicked and called the school, wanting to know if my child made it safely to school. They didn’t know and said they would call me back. That was the most nerve wracking fifteen minutes of waiting. It all turned out okay, and she was actually the mother of another school child, but what if she hadn’t been?
Here is a list of books featuring missing children. I’ve been asked how I could write about a mother’s worst nightmare, and I think the act of writing it out helps me face the worst-case scenario. As you will see, some of my author friends agree with me!
The Perfect Mother by Matthew Farrell
A teenage girl goes missing and a desperate mother must decide whether to take the law in her own hands in order to save her daughter. As her past catches up to her present, the mother is forced to do unspeakable things. How far would she go to get her daughter back?
I spoke to author Matthew Farrell, who has two daughters himself, and he said the most horrifying thing he could think of was one of his kids going missing. As he fleshed out The Perfect Mother, he wanted to try and tackle, not only the fear and crippling anxiety around having a child abducted, but also the determination a parent would have in finding that child, seemingly against all odds. Would a normal, law-abiding, citizen of society stoop to levels unheard of in order to protect or find their missing child?
Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier
When she loses her little boy because she let go of his hand in a crowd for just a few seconds, Marin’s perfect life falls apart. A year later, the case has gone cold, and she and her husband are barely speaking. She finds out he is having an affair, and this sparks Marin back to life. She’s lost her little boy; she’s not about to lose her husband. Author Jennifer Hillier told me when she was writing this book, her own son was four years old, the same age as the little boy in the book, and it was basically her writing about her worst nightmare.
Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Paul Tremblay
When thirteen-year-old Tommy vanishes without a trace, it is his mother’s worst nightmare. There are no leads and Tommy’s friends may not be telling the truth. But when the ghostly shadow of Tommy materialized to his mother and random pages from Tommy’s journal begin to mysteriously appear, no one is prepared for the shocking truth about the night he disappeared at Devil’s Rock.
Stephen King had this to say about Paul Tremblay’s work: “A Head Full of Ghosts scared the living hell out of me, and I’m pretty hard to scare,” raved Stephen King about Paul Tremblay’s previous novel. Now, Tremblay returns with another disturbing tale sure to unsettle readers.
No Exit by Taylor Adams
In this fast-paced edge of your seat thriller, college student Darby is trapped at a remote highway rest stop with four other people after getting caught in a fierce blizzard. When she discovers a little girl locked in an animal crate in a van, she must figure out who the kidnapper is. With exquisitely controlled pacing, Taylor Adams diabolically ratchets up the tension with every page. Full of terrifying twists and hairpin turns, No Exit will have you on the edge of your seat and leave you breathless.
I love (is that the right word to use in a kidnapping story?) how this book deviates from a ‘parent trying to find a kidnapped child’ missing children story.
Somebody’s Daughter by David Bell
Michael’s ex-wife shows up on his doorstep one night, saying her ten-year-old child is missing—the same child who could possibly be his daughter. Confronted with a child he never knew he wanted, he has no choice but to help find her. The story takes place over the course of one night, where the lies of the past decade bubble to the surface and the window for the little girl’s safe return dwindles. Michael will need to decide who he can trust and who is hiding the truth.
Beyond all the mystery lies the premise of a man who thought he’d left his ex-wife behind, only to find out that he’s still tied to her ten years later by a child he didn’t know they had. Add to that the complication that he and his current wife have been trying for a child, and you have a very real situation of a man caught between two lives.
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