The Missing Girls: A Shocking True Story of Abduction and Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library) [Mass Market Paperback]

Rick Watson (Author), Philip Tennyson (Author), Linda O'Neal (Author)

Book Description

Series: St. Martin's True Crime Library | Publication Date: January 2, 2007

Ashley Pond was only twelve years old when she vanished from a school bus stop in a town south of Portland, Oregon. As a shocked community came together and police began a frantic search, another tragedy was just about to take place.
 
Miranda Gaddis was Ashley's best friend. Just two months after Ashley's disappearance, Miranda was on her way to school when she, too, was abducted. Nobody knew the scandalous, unspeakable secret that the two girls shared…except for one man who lived just one block away.
 
The police and FBI managed to overlook the girls' neighbor whose daughter was a friend of Miranda and Ashley's--and who had a catalog of sexual-assault allegations behind him. Author Linda O'Neal was a private investigator intimately involved in this shocking case. Now, she and her co-authors--also participants in the case--tell the chilling story of one town's devastating loss…and how the murderer was finally found.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"O'Neal persevered when less-committed investigators reasonably may have given up…[The Missing Girls] is made greatly more urgent by the main investigator's familial ties."--Booklist

From the Back Cover

MISSING: Two young girls from the same neighborhood.
Ashley Pond was only twelve years old when she vanished from a school bus stop in a town south of Portland, Oregon. As a shocked community came together and police began a frantic search, another tragedy was just about to take place.
 
No one believed that evil could be so close to home…
Miranda Gaddis was Ashley's best friend. Just two months after Ashley's disappearance, Miranda was on her way to school when she, too, was abducted. Nobody knew the scandalous, unspeakable secret that the two girls shared…except for one man who lived just one block away.
 
Until a heroic grandmother brought a killer to justice.
The police and FBI managed to overlook the girls' neighbor whose daughter was a friend of Miranda and Ashley's--and who had a catalog of sexual-assault allegations behind him. Author Linda O'Neal was a private investigator intimately involved in this shocking case. Now, she and her co-authors--also participants in the case--tell the chilling story of one town's devastating loss…and how the murderer was finally found.
 
"O'Neal persevered when less-committed investigators reasonably may have given up…[The Missing Girls] is made greatly more urgent by the main investigator's familial ties."--Booklist
 
 
WITH 8 PAGES OF RIVETING PHOTOS

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime (January 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312941617
• ISBN-13: 978-0312941611
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,086,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Wow, is this written poorly, January 20, 2007

By 

Marilyn Sullivan (Nazareth, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Missing Girls: A Shocking True Story of Abduction and Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have read thousands of true crime books and this is the second-worst I have ever read, in terms of the writing. That's saying a lot, considering that the genre is not generally known for its artistic quality. I found it almost unreadable. It's very difficult to follow the story because of the confusing references, constant switching of voices and tenses, and general lack of literary imagination. Details are thrown in that add nothing to the story. It is just a hopeless mish-mash.
As the previous reviewer noted, this could have been a decent book. It has a lot of the elements of a typical true-crime story: murder, innocent victims, deviants, mystery. Too bad they don't come together here. Don't wast your time.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible Writing !!, January 20, 2007

By 

George LAbbe "NVbookworm" (Reno, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Missing Girls: A Shocking True Story of Abduction and Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

This was a book written by a 6 yr old...The author claims she is "The Lead Private Investigator on this case. Truth is, she is an unpaid relative, with no talent. She never fails to remind you how much her husband admires her, and how much more she knows than the FBI. I'm really surprised that the Publisher accepted this book. Could have been a great story. I certainly hope Ms. O'Neal gives up writing,,,

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars COULD have been fascinating--it's a shame, really, January 18, 2007

By 

Sharon Yvonne "Sharon" (Chicago, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Missing Girls: A Shocking True Story of Abduction and Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is without a doubt one of the most amateurishly written yet professionally published books I've ever attempted to force myself to slog through. The story itself, a yarn about a private dectetive investigating the mysterious disappearance of two abducted children, has the requisite amount of pathos and mystery to form the basis of a real page turner, which is the only reason I'm giving it two stars instead of just one. Unfortunately, the best raw material in the world does not write itself, and in this case, the lacking element was the services of a ghost writer who actually knew his or her craft. Unfortunately, the publisher and authors did not avail themselves of those services, and the result is a book that reads like it was written by a sixth grader. This publisher must have had extremely low standards or perhaps just been really desperate to get something about this particular crime into print. Probably both. It remains to be seen whether I'm going to be able to get all the way through it or not. The only reason I've stayed with it this long is that I really want to see how the bastard who killed those little girls finally got nailed. Only for hard core true crime fans with a high tolerance for really bad writing.