From Publishers Weekly
Young children as victims of violence are becoming a clich? of psychological thrillers, but for those who haven't tired of the plot device, there's plenty to like in D'Amato's (Good Cop, Bad Cop) latest. The author of the popular Cat Marsala series introduces a new character here, Chicago police detective Polly Kelly, who spends five frantic days trying to track down the kidnappers of three-year-old Danielle Gaston, snatched from under her parents' eyes in the city's Holy Name Cathedral. The child is the daughter of country and western singer Maggie McKittredge and Missouri Senator Neal Gaston. The high-profile nature of the crime puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on Kelly, who's already dealing with her own depressed and possibly suicidal mother, who has recently moved into Kelly's home. To make matters worse, the kidnappers are members of Bandwidth, a high-tech terrorist group who have set up a real-time Web site showing Danni starving to death in a barren room. The disturbing footage is broadcast all day by TV stations throughout the world, generating a public outcry to comply with Bandwidth's ultimatum: the release from prison of its leader and master strategist, Johnnie Raft. Kelly won't budge on that demand, even though she's just about breaking from the emotional toll of seeing little Danni grow weaker by the hour. All of D'Amato's storytelling skills are hereAa lighting-fast plot, engaging characters, deftly dropped clues and an earthy Chicago atmosphereAthough the incessant image of the televised, starving toddler seems an excessive and abject means to propel the story. But newcomer Kelly is an engaging protagonist, a tough, politically savvy cop with a well-developed, potentially explosive, personal side. (Oct.) FYI:D'Amato is president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
YA-Country-and-western star Maggie McKittredge and her U.S. Senator husband, Neal Gaston, are making their annual pilgrimage to Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral when their three-year-old daughter, Danielle, is kidnapped. The crime takes an unusual twist when, within two hours of the kidnapping, a new Web site called helpmeplease appears on the World Wide Web. Its sole purpose is to project live, 24-hour-a-day coverage of Danni Gaston in her prison. Thus begins the cat-and-mouse investigation between Chicago's finest, represented by Polly Kelly, Deputy Chief of Detectives, and the cyber criminals who take pride in foiling every attempt to be tracked, identified, or located. D'Amato enriches the story with tension between FBI agents who commandeer the investigation and promise (but do not deliver) all kinds of high-tech solutions and Kelly's staff, who believe in old-fashioned gut instincts and footwork. This fast-moving novel is sprinkled with interesting insights into police work and computer buffs will enjoy the constantly changing cyber strategies kidnappers and law-enforcement officers use to outsmart and confound one another.
Becky Ferrall, Stonewall Jackson High School, Manassas, VA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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