Shocked when twenty-six disabled children are kidnapped off their school bus, detective Ellen Camacho receives the kidnapper's threat that all the children will die if his ransom demands are not met within thirty-eight hours. Reprint. K. PW. "
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Here's a first novel so self-assured and truly frightening that you'll wonder what Zachary Fox can possibly do for an encore. A psychopath in a clown suit hijacks a busload of disabled children in the Southern California desert near Palm Springs and threatens to kill them all if he's not paid $20 million. A Native American policewoman, Ellen Comacho, is caught up in the crime and the ensuing turf battle between the FBI and the local police. Not the least of the author's many accomplishments is the ability to orchestrate a touching romance against a background of terror.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Kirkus Reviews
A lone sociopath seizes a school bus carrying 27 handicapped children, and the world's eyes focus on a small town in the California desert for an edgy 48 hours. When Las Cruces wakes up to the fact that a busload of its most vulnerable kids is missing, the authorities, frantically assembling their meager resources, call in the FBI. Sergeant Ellen Camacho (one of two detectives on the local police force) is put in charge of the case by Chief Paul Whitehorse (her lover as well as boss). In addition to sorting out jurisdictional conflicts with the feds and the sheriff's department, Ellen (a single mother who worked three years as a Los Angeles cop) must deal with distraught parents and a pack of ravening journalists. Meantime, she and her colleagues are frustrated by the lack of immediate demands from the perpetrator--which is precisely what the deranged kidnapper, Lowell Alexander DeVries, intends. An above-suspicion resident of Las Cruces, he exults in the chaos his careful planning has created. Although under the gun of a de facto deadline because of the captive children's medical needs, law-enforcement agencies can do precious little but dance to the kidnapper's tune. Finally, the murderous DeVries (a pedophile with a host of imagined scores to settle) submits his ransom requirements: a small fortune in one- carat diamonds and used bills. Matt LaSalle, the FBI's vaultingly ambitious man on the scene, arranges for the transfer of the cash and stones, which DeVries insists must be delivered by Ellen (whose daughter he's also abducted). The distraught but resourceful investigator sets out on the roundabout route DeVries has mapped. Under cover of darkness, she's able to upset his timetable and force a violent confrontation in the Mojave's desolate foothills. An absorbing suspenser from newcomer Fox that makes especially vivid use of setting and of its countdown format. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
THIS LONG AND WINDING ROAD IS TOO LONG,
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This review is from: All Fall Down (Mass Market Paperback)
A crackpot in a clown suit hijacks a bus full of mentally and physically challenged children. He forces the driver at gun point to take the bus to a deserted bunker. Several children are killed by the maniacal clown; the driver herself faces death on more than one occasion.A local police officer who has a 4-year-old daughter has a special interest in the case; in addition to being a single parent, she feels a kinship to every child on that bus. The questions that really arise throughout this tediously written and overly long, drawn out account are 1) who is the clown and what is his agenda and 2) what is the agenda of the towns folk in positions of power? Summed up, there is a lot of under the table dealing and some very questionable people involved. The story was good, but it was not well edited and dragged on for a very long time. Half the pages could have been used to tell the story. That aside, it's something that most folks will probably enjoy. It sure beats television.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
With the right editor, it would have been a great book,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: All Fall Down (Mass Market Paperback)
While the main plot of this novel is exciting, the sub-plots inter-woven make it a more laborious read than it should have been. The author seemed duty bound to include a romantic interest that was poorly done. The writing style is good, the storyline acceptable but the editing that left in all the unnecessary sub-pots leaves much to be desired. The violence seemed gratuitious at times simply to shock the reader into "enjoying" the novel more. Overall, the book is worth reading but many will find themselves skipping multiple pages at times to get back to the core story.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Who Cares?!,
This review is from: All Fall Down (Mass Market Paperback)
It amazes me that a book can have a storyline such as this one (mad man kidnaps a bus full of handicapped children and begins killing them off) and be so NOT moving. For starters, Fox chooses to rely on a couple of cheap cliches to drive his story. First off, the main plot centers not on the children, but on the cop trying to solve the case. Cliche number one: this cop is a woman. Cliche number two: this cop is also a mother. Cliche number three: woman cop was abused by ex-husband and is now dating chief of police. Cliche number four: FBI big men come in (behaving stereotypically as if they believe themselves to be better then the cops) and cheesy romance between woman cop and FBI G-man develops. This lame main storyline is surprising considering that Fox has obviously done his research when it comes to the kidnapper's pathology. He is a unique character who destroys all preconceived ideas about him along the way. Bottom line, not enough time was spent on developing the characters of the children or their bus driver, kidnapped along with them (most of the kids don't even get names) to care other than in the most detached way, when the kidnapper starts killing them. Woman cop was too cliche for me to care. Thus, I read the whole book which granted was suspenseful enough not to want to put down, without really caring about anyone in it at all.
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