Gone [Paperback]

Kit Craig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1994

Clary Hale has tried to keep life as normal as possible for her three children since her Navy husband was listed as MIA four years ago. But she harbors a terrifying secret from her past: the twisted obsession of a teenage boy that led to her parents' death. Now he has shown up at her door, determined to possess her.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Three wholesome American kids stalk a serial killer who has abducted their mother in this outstanding psychological thriller.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this fast-paced thriller, novelist Kit Reed ( Catholic Girls , LJ 8/87) has taken on a new pseudonym as well as a new genre. Clary Hale's husband Tom, a navy captain, was lost at sea four years ago. When Clary disappears, her three children--Teah, Mike, and Tommy (aged 16, 15, and four)--believe she's gone on a secret mission to find their father. But as time passes, they realize she's been kidnapped by Cleve Morrow, a charismatic madman from her past. They trail the pair from Connecticut to the jungles of Florida, where a tense cat-and-mouse game is played to the death. Of course, the idea of two teenagers and a child embarking on a cross-country rescue mission is silly, but the author's portrait of Cleve, the seductive psychopath, is so stunning that it's easy to forget the ridiculous premise--and hard to put down the book. Recommended. BOMC and Quality Paperback selections.
- Rebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Calumet Lib., Hammond, Ind.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 10 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (January 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425139441
• ISBN-13: 978-0425139448
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,225,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN, August 31, 2000

By 

Gypsychick "gypsychick" (miami, fl USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gone (Paperback)

To paraphrase Hitchcock, sometimes what the audience doesn't see, but anticipates, is more horrifying. That is the case with Craig's book. The creeping fear that gradually consumes the three children of Navy widow (is her husband dead or not?) Clary Hale as they begin to realize their mother has disappeared into the night without leaving a clue, is so thick you will find yourself shifting uncomfortably in your chair. Craig has an excellent turn of phrase and he sets you up to feel exactly what each of his tortured characters feel.

Gradually the nosy elderly neighbor and the oversexed, love starved cleaning woman also draw you in with their own theories and speculation as to what has happened to Clary and their stories jump off the page as we see what they do not - the fact they are very involved in the disappearance. In addition, they are followed and approached by a Naval officer who states he can assist them in finding their mother. He is charming and commanding - but is he what he says he is? The children's search takes them on an agonizing road trip with deadly results as they try to piece together the mystery, using clues that may very well lead them to their own deaths. The plot hinges on a tragedy from Clary's teenage days. To tell more will ruin the plot, so I will just say the book is DEFINITELY worth one long rainy night, if you enjoy a good, adult scare.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An spellbinding thriller with a sense of humor, January 7, 2000

By 

Miguel "Writer, Journalist, Film Critic" (Gijon, Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gone (Paperback)

Clary Hale's children have been left home alone... or so they think.

Underneath a façade of suburban bliss all hell breaks loose when a psychopath obssessed with his childhood sweetheart comes calling and leaving a bloodbath in his wake. With crisp, edgy writing, funny lines and characters one can't help but care for, Kit Craig (pen name for cult-favorite horror/Sci-Fi writer Kit Reed -- "Tiger Rag", "cry of the Daughter", "Catholic Girls"-)creates a roller coaster of suspense without the formula that has made such authors as Sidney Sheldon, Mary Higgins Clark and Iris Johansen so commonplace.

Here, you never know what's going to happen next... and it is all great fun!

3.0 out of 5 stars Boulder, January 22, 2009

By 

debs (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gone (Paperback)

I'm reading this book now and it's kind of like pushing a boulder up hill. I want to know how it ends, but it's a struggle to get through it. I would probably read this author's next book though, just to see the growth.