Customer Reviews

Judas Child

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an intensely gripping, suspenseful, tautly written, psychological thriller. The author, a master storyteller, weaves a compelling tapestry of events, as well as a complex plot in which history seems to repeat itself.

Several days before Christmas, in a small, bucolic, tightly knit town, two ten year old girls, best friends, Sadie Green and Gwen Hubble, suddenly disappear. One of the local cops, Rouge Kendall, becomes involved in the investigation and manhunt that ensues. The case calls to mind his own brush with a madman, when fifteen years earlier his own ten year old, twin sister, Susan, had likewise been abducted. She was found murdered on Christmas Day, and his family never fully recovered from the blow they were dealt by Susan's untimely and grisly death. A local priest, Father Paul Marie, was arrested for Susan's abduction and murder, tried, and convicted.

Enter Ali Cray, a former classmate of Rouge and Susan, who is now a forensic psychologist. Facially disfigured, she carries with her emotional baggage from her past. Yet, she is determined to make sure that justice is done in this case. She has a theory of the case about which she feels strongly. She believes that one of the girls functioned as a Judas child, a secondary target who is used as bait to lure the primary target into a trap. She also believes that Susan Kendall's fifteen year old abduction and murder and the current abductions are linked, notwithstanding the fact that Paul Marie is incarcerated at the time of Sadie's and Gwen's apparent abduction. Should Ali Cray be proven correct in her theory, an innocent man has been paying for the crimes of another all this time.

The author serves up a brilliant narrative, imbuing the two abducted girls with personalities that hook the viewers. Sadie Green is the irrepressible, fearless leader of the two. Creative, resourceful, irreverent, highly intelligent, and loyal, she is a kid who thinks outside the box, as a matter of course. Gwen Hubble is also highly intelligent, as well as sensitive and intuitive, but more timid and reserved than Sadie by nature, a follower not a leader. While all in town are hoping that both will be found alive, it is Ali Cray's conjecture that the child who is designated as the Judas child is quickly dispatched by her abductor. She believes that the child who is the primary target will live for a short time, until she too is dispatched, most certainly by Christmas, so as to wreak maximum emotional havoc.

The narrative flips back and forth between that which is happening in the town, not only with the investigation but also with some of the townspeople, and that which is being ostensibly experienced by Sadie and Gwen during their captivity. What happens to the girls is absolutely riveting, as well as heartbreaking. This is a vividly drawn, skillfully layered tour de force that is imbued with intriguing mystery and, at the same time, infinite sadness. The reader is sure to remain glued to the pages of this book, until the very last page is turned.

I had never read Carol O'Connell before and Judas Child was recommended to me by an American friend.

From the opening chapter of the man lurking in the lane I was hooked. The characterisation is stunning, especially Sadie and Rouge - I fell in love with both. The novels builds and becomes more complex just as you think you know what is going to happen. The characters change and develop - just as in real life no one is as they first appear and everyone is portrayed in their different and various shades.

The passages on the two girls are full of bravery and truth and are heartbreaking too - even thought they are best friends one knows they would put their own survival first.

The ending is pheonomenal - I did not see it coming and I found it heartbreaking yet uplifting at the same time. I now cannot wait to read all Ms O'Connell's other books.

Judas Child is simply the most imaginative and stirring novel I have read in a very long time. I have rarely felt so excited about a book and recommend it to everyone.

This is the first book by Carol O'Connell that I read and if her other books are only half as good, everyone will well be worth reading. "Judas Child" had me gripped from the very first page. Due to circumstances I had to read this in little installments over about a week but everytime I opened the book it took only a few sentences and I was inside the story again. I had to be very careful when reading because time just flew by. This must be one of the best mysteries I ever read. Up until now I had that pedestal reserved for Elizabeth George and Minette Walters, but Carol O'Connell is definitely up there as well.

Just before christmas two children disappear from a small town. At first they are believed to be runaways, but soon this disappearance is tied to a crime that shocked the town fifteen years ago. A man had been convicted, but was it the right one ? A mad hunt for the children starts that involves many parties. Meanwhile the two children are trying to survive in a nightmare environment.

The story twists and turns while always keeping your interest. Strong main characters, interesting secondary characters. The children are smart, but not too clever. Everything seems believable. And when the crime is solved, Ms O'Connell has another surprise in stock that threw me off completely. One last twists that beats them all. Absolutely fabulous !

O'Connell's Mallory series is good. This book is great. Unlike most thrillers, which mingle in memory with a hundred other books like them, this novel lingers on your mind for years. O'Connell's adult characters are well drawn and sympathetic, but the little girls steal the show. Be warned--you will be late for work, stay up past your bedtime, let dinner burn on the stove, just to find out what happens to these engaging children. The tension is sometimes almost painful, but delicious at the same time. I have never read another book that made me actually want to jump into the pages and help a character. I hate to use a cliche, but this is a must read.

It is probably better to say as little as possible about the actual storyline for fear of giving anything away and concentrate more on impressing upon everyone that this is one of those books that creeps up on you and grabs you.

What I will do is give a basic plot outline that gets the story started. A small town in upstate New York is in complete uproar when two young girls go missing in what appears to be a kidnapping and, if history is any guide, will become a homicide. It looks like the work of a serial offender. To add a little bit of poignancy to the story, one of the police officers to be working the case is Rouge Kendall, whose twin sister was a victim of this exact scenario 15 years ago. We then follow the story from two points of focus. The first follows the investigators trying to solve the case and find the girls. The second is from the girls' point of view and we get to experience their fear and confusion over what has happened to them.

My reaction to this book surprised me a little. My feelings for the characters were mixed, ranging from annoyance to outrage and disgust; Carol O'Connell managed to winkle them all out of me. I thought I knew where the story was headed and how it was going to finish but, as it turned out, I was so far off base it wasn't funny.

It's pleasing to find a story that can continue to provoke thought long after you've closed it on the last page. This book certainly provided that for me.

Wow! What a page turner! The story gave me the creeps more after I was done reading it and had time to dwell on the story than while I was reading it. I would have given the book 5 stars if it weren't for all the characters and various law enforcement agencies they worked for that really confused me and bogged me down for awhile. I finally decided it didn't matter to the story(which now that I'm done with the book, it didn't), just keep your eye on the local characters.

Wow... after I read this book, I put it down and I was stunned and speechless. Although it took awhile for me to get into it, I am glad I kept pusing forward. The ending is stunning and just when I think she is wrapping the story all up, she throws another curveball. It caused me to go back and read certain parts all over again! I will definately seek out others written by Ms. O' Connell. Superior!!!

First thing when you want to shell out the usual exhorbitant fee for a quick paperbook read - flip open the front cover, scan the reviewer's quotes quickly for something from the New York Times, the Washington Post, some big credible reviewer, not a two bit hack writer who's scratching backs with a few cliched praises... Not single words, either - publishers can draw "Astounding!" from "...an astounding piece of crap..." faster than Superman can change his suit. But something's gone seriously amiss when it comes to the quotes listed on the mystery-thrillers of Carol O'Connell - there's not enough to indicate how truly superior to the mass of the genre they really are. I don't have a television, so I end up consuming hundreds of mysteries a year - usually drawing the same amouont of cerebral stimulation from the pages as most people get from their evening dose of sit-coms and funniest home videos. But I curled up yesterday with O'Connell's Judas Child and - despite its pedophiles, savage guard dogs and scarred mystery women - I couldn't stop grinning with delight. Sure, strip the the plot down to its skeleton and it isn't particualry original - the same old 'lawmen trying to hunt down a serial killer.' Still, the flesh on those bones makes Judas Child a joy to read. Each character is superbly developed, original, interesting in his or her own right, not mere backdrop for the detective star. O'Connell's writing is poetic and precise, with truly unexpected plot twists and a pure sense of fun that radiates off each page. Judas Child is so good, in fact, that I forced myself to put it aside so that I could savour it for more evenings before I had to return to the mediocre writing of most of those who share her genre.

Every lover of mysteries longs for that elusive book which will not only stump them, but also throw them such a curve that it will take them awhile to figure out what hit them. Carol O'Connell's "Judas Child" is just such a book. I wasn't just entertained by this book. I was compelled to keep turning the pages. It's a wonder that the author's work isn't banned by employers around the country because it was all I could do to tear myself away from the pages on my lunch hour and breaks and get back to work. O'Connell's main characters are intriguing and complex. Sadie Green is more borderline psycho than heroine but I dare you not to fall in love with her after the first few chapters. Just be prepared! The ending is not a "smack yourself on the forehead....should have figured that out" type of ending. Nope! It's a "sit there stunned then flip frantically back through the pages to see what clues you overlooked" ending. Enjoy!

Remorse, loss and survivor-guilt activate this fine novel. Though the basic plot is familiar: an unknown predator is stalking, planning, and killing----nothing prepares even the most jaded reader for what follows.

Fifteen years ago, 10-year old Susan Kendall was callously murdered leaving her family who include her twin brother Rouge, devastated with grief. When two local ten-year old girls go missing, it looks like history is repeating itself. The modus operendi seems to be that the second child (the Judas Child) is tricked into luring the first child (the princess child) to a rendezvous where the killer summarily disposes Child #2 and keeps the Princess alive until such time as would cause the parents, family and friends the maximum grief. (Usually Christmas Day)

Ms. O'Connell captures the two little girls Sadie and Gwen brilliantly. Sadie is everything we would have always wanted as a childhood best friend: fearless, inventive, a trickster of the first order, intensely loyal and an expert on every horror film ever made. Gwen is a highly intelligent, sensitive, very sheltered little girl who is not near the coward she thinks she is.

The adult characters are each so sharply drawn; any one of them could be considered the protagonist. Rouge Kendall, in his detachment, almost appears Christ-like. The sensuous, horribly scarred Ali is a driven dynamo (Question: is wearing a long slit skirt, barelegged with very high heels in the winter time really sexy? I kept thinking how breezy this type of getup would be and wouldn't her feet hurt?) Dr. Mortimer is so bound in his rigid ethics, is he insane? The wrongly convicted priest is a symphony in complicated disbelief, and the FBI agent, Arnie, has so many facets, he is a kaleidoscope.

The resolution of this strange tale is so subjective and strange; the reader will frenetically go back to chapters to redefine what they have read to reassure themselves their senses are in place. You can't ask much more from a book than that.