Eleven Hours [Hardcover]

Paullina Simons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998

A compelling, heartrending tale of a woman in danger and the man who's desperate to find her, from the internationally bestselling author of TULLY and ROAD TO PARADISE A heavily pregnant young woman is leaving the shopping mall to head home on a horribly hot day in Texas. Her normal life of shopping, husband, children, with the extra excitement of the imminent baby, stretches before her. And then she is bundled into a car and kidnapped by a desperate young man. What does he want? Where are they going? In scenes that alternate between the desperate husband, pursuing by car and helicopter with an alarmingly laid-back FBI man, who may or may not be as good as he thinks he is at rescuing hostages, and the more and more threatened wife, Eleven Hours is a tour de force of storytelling power.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Continuing to hone her style, Simons follows the logorrheic Tully and the pensive Red Leaves with a sparely written, blatantly shocking page-turner. Nine months pregnant with her third child, Desdemona (Didi) Wood basks in the adoration of her husband, Rich, national sales manager for a Dallas-based religious publisher. Didi's only sin is that she's a compulsive shopper, blowing her husband's hard-earned cash at a Dallas mall. A nondescript young man approaches Didi inside the mall, then follows her and forces her into his Ford minivan. Terrified, Didi wonders if God is punishing her for not going to church often enough or for being a shopaholic. She soon learns that the kidnapper, Lyle Luft, is enraged at God for allowing his wife and child to die. He wants a baby, and he doesn't care how he gets it. Rich deduces that his missing wife was abducted in the mall parking lot, but police are skeptical until tough black FBI officer Scott Somerville joins the chase. Simons's pacing is pulse-racing as she cuts from the pursuers to the pursued with nightmarish speed, evoking with economy and style Didi's terror, pain and sheer physical discomfort. As the road chase continues, news bulletins about Didi's abduction prompt Lyle into homicidal fury. Once he kills a cop, he has nothing left to lose. Meanwhile, Didi tries to persuade Lyle that he's "acting against God," but it's not surprising that her sermon falls on deaf ears. Despite the blatant overlay of born-again religiosity, the momentum of the chase sustains the narrative, and Simons renders some final stomach-churning scenes of violence with unsparing detail. While the psychological explanation of Lyle's sociopathy is superficial, and Didi's transformation from suburban housewife to tough and cool avenger is less than plausible, the atmosphere of panic never abates until Simons brings her suspenseful tale to a close. Mystery Guild selection; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Praise for Paullina Simons Tully 'Pick up this book and prepare to have your emotions wrung so completely you'll be sobbing your heart out one minute and laughing through your tears the next! Read it and weep -- literally' Company Tatiana and Alexander 'This has everything a romance glutton could wish for: a bold, talented and dashing hero, a heart-stopping love affair ! It also has -- thank goodness -- a welcome sense of humour and discernable characters rather than ciphers.' Victoria Moore, Daily Mail --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312180918
• ISBN-13: 978-0312180911
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,138,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointing third book, June 11, 2001

By 

Maria from London (London UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eleven Hours (Mass Market Paperback)

A pregnant woman (actually, a VERY pregnant woman, just a couple of weeks away from giving birth). A psycho kidnapper. A frantic husband. A black, competent & cool cop. Helicopters. Stolen cars. A climactic scene in the end (I won't specifically mention what happens but it's easy to guess from about page one).

Remind you of anything? Yes, you guessed it. "Eleven hours" reads exactly like a screenplay, & a very predictable & boring one, too. I'm not saying it's not a suspenseful, quick read. It is, if you happen to be one of those people that haven't seen this kind of thriller in the movies (a thousand times, too) & thus if you're likely to be surprised by any of it. I wonder what Paullina Simons was thinking. I remember reading somewhere that this book was written quickly. Well, I'm not surprised: if it was indeed written quickly, it's equally quickly read & even more quickly forgotten. She probably was hoping "Eleven Hours" might be turned into a movie, & I wonder if it has or if it will...

If I sound bitter, it's simply because "Tully" has been one of my favourite books for many years, I've read it & reread it & always felt it is an extremely well written & very emotional book, with strong characters. I also quite liked "Red Leaves". So this third book was a big disappointment from an author I've grown to like & admire. Comparing "Tully" to "Eleven hours" is like comparing a good, elaborate, lovingly made home-cooked meal to a quick, greasy, unhealthy hamburger. Both serve their own purpose I guess, but there really is no comparison.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One of the worst books ever written, August 25, 2003

By 

Mary (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eleven Hours (Mass Market Paperback)

The only good thing about this book was the premise: a 9-months pregnant woman goes missing from the mall. In the hands of a more gifted writer, it could've been a really compelling read. In the hands of Ms Simon, it is forgettable and a waste of time.

There is so much wrong with this book, I don't know where to start. Thinly drawn characters. Improbabilites (the husband would NOT be allowed to actively participate in the actual investigation of his missing wife). A lead character (the pregnant woman) so completely dense that she doesn't figure out what the kidnapper wants until he tells her towards the very end(it took every ounce of willpower for me not to scrawl a huge "DUH!" on the page his intent is revealed). Finally, the worst 'sin' committed by Paulina Simons is that this should have been a suspenseful book and it simply was not. It was an absolute yawner.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Good as her previous books, December 2, 1999

By 

Darren P. Toohey "keeper71" (New York, NY, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eleven Hours (Mass Market Paperback)

Paullina Simons set a high standard when she wrote Tully and Red Leaves. Both books were excellent and I could not put them down until I finished them. I was disapointed with Eleven Hours as it did not enthrall me as did her previous books. It was an average book to read. If you have not read any of Simons' other books I suggest you buy her other two books rather than this one.