The Missing [Mass Market Paperback]

Shiloh Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2008

From the national bestselling author whose sexy stories ?you will not soon forget?(Romance Review) comes a brand-new, sinfully sexy romantic suspense novel.

Her psychic gift drove away the man she loved? and years later has drawn him back to her?

As a teenager, Taige Branch hated her psychic gift. No one could understand?except for Cullen Morgan, the boy who stole her heart. He did his best to accept her, until his mother was brutally murdered?and he couldn?t forgive Taige for not preventing it.

Now a widowed father, Cullen Morgan has never forgotten Taige. But what brings her back into his life is another tragedy. His beloved little girl has been kidnapped, and Taige is his only hope of finding her. Working together against the clock, Cullen and Taige can?t help but wonder whether?if they find his daughter in time?it isn?t too late for the overpowering love that still burns between them?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this romantic spine tingler from Walker (Through the Veil), psychic teen Taige Branch of Gulf Shores, Ala., falls in love one summer with Cullen Morgan, a boy on vacation from Georgia, after he rescues her from being raped by a couple of drunken louts at a beach resort. Four years later, after a psycho murders Cullen's mother in Atlanta, Cullen breaks up with Taige, outraged that his psychic girlfriend, who had saved little kids' lives in front of his eyes, couldn't foresee and stop the tragedy. Eight years after that trauma, Cullen asks Taige, now a member of an FBI special task force, for help in finding his motherless daughter, Jilly, a talented artist with psychic abilities who's been abducted by a child predator. A sweet love story alternates with an exciting manhunt. Romantic suspense fans will find much to like in Taige, a fearless beauty, half-white, half-black, who's not just another medium clone. (Nov.)
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About the Author

Shiloh Walker is the national bestselling author of many novels, including Hunting the Hunter, Hunter's Salvation, and Hunters: Heart and Soul.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (November 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425224384
• ISBN-13: 978-0425224380
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #873,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Shiloh Walker has been writing since she was a kid... she fell in love with vampires with the book Bunnicula and has worked her way up to the more...ah... serious vampire stories. She loves reading and writing anything paranormal, anything fantasy, but most all anything romantic. Once upon a time, she worked as a nurse, but now she writes full time and lives with her family in the Midwest.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well done romantic suspense. Heroine uses psychic abilities to save lives and catch bad guys., November 12, 2008

By 

Jane (Chicago, IL, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Missing (Mass Market Paperback)

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
Per Publishers Weekly "A sweet love story alternates with an exciting manhunt. Romantic suspense fans will find much to like in Taige, a fearless beauty, half-white, half-black, who's not just another medium clone." I agree. There are other characters with psychic abilities as well. This was a nicely done story with some interesting plot twists and events.

I noticed one reviewer found fault with the story as not being realistic regarding police procedures. That didn't bother me. It's probable that the psychic parts are also not that realistic. As far as I'm concerned, suspending belief is ok. I'm in this for the entertainment and for a fun escape, which it provided.

STORY BRIEF WITH SOME SPOILERS:
Cullen is a rich kid whose family spends summers at their vacation home, located in a gulf coast Alabama tourist town. Taige's parents died when she was young. She lives with an abusive uncle. When Taige is 15, Cullen saves her from an attempted rape. They develop a relationship over the next few summers. Cullen knows Taige has psychic abilities. When Taige is 19, Cullen's mother is violently murdered. Cullen is angry and breaks up with Taige. He felt Taige should have known about the murder in advance to help prevent it. He was mad that she never tried to control or develop her abilities. He claimed she passively reacted to them instead of actively used them. Because of Cullen's accusation, Taige then begins to actively use her abilities, develop greater control over them and works with the FBI. Cullen marries Kim who dies giving birth to their daughter Jilly. Several years later Jilly is kidnapped. Cullen hasn't seen Taige for 12 years, but goes to her asking for her help to find Jilly.

DATA:
Story length: 311 pages. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 8. Total number of sex scene pages: 28. Setting: current day gulf coast tourist town in Alabama and a few other places in the U.S. Copyright: 2008. Genre: paranormal romantic suspense.

OTHER BOOKS:
To date, I've read the following Shiloh Walker books.

Novels:
4 stars. The Missing. Copyrt 2008. Review Date 11/12/08.
2 stars. Touch of Gypsy Fire. Copyrt 2004. No review posted.

Anthologies:
5 stars. Ghost of a Chance (in anthology Ellora's Cavemen: Tales From The Temple IV). Copyrt 2004. Review Date 4/02/08.
4 stars. The Blood Kiss (in anthology Hot Spell). Copyrt 2005. My 5 star review for the anthology was posted 5/11/08.
1 star. His Christmas Cara (in anthology All She Wants: Ellora's Cave). Copyrt 2004. My 4 star review for the anthology was posted 4/02/08.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark and dangerous, November 12, 2008

By 

Laurie (OH - USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Missing (Mass Market Paperback)

Taige Branch was blessed, or maybe cursed, with the special gift of vision. She certainly doesn't feel special though and has had more than her fair share of pain - emotional and physical. Losing both parents and being sent to live with her fire and brimstone preacher of an uncle, she was constantly berated and regularly beaten because of the "evil" that supposedly had taken residence in her young body. Despite all of this, Taige uses her gift to the best of her ability, saving more than one person from certain death and then suffering the physically ravaging consequences in private after. When a wealthy boy's family buys a vacation home in the Alabama gulf where Taige lives, the teens are instantly attracted and it isn't long before he witnesses her gift first-hand. Unfortunately, she is unable to predict Cullen's mother's violent death, only to be blamed by him and cast aside.

Taige and Cullen may have been separated for several years but they never forgot each other. When Cullen's young daughter is kidnapped, Taige is the first person the single father turns to for help. Now officially working with the FBI to find missing children, Taige's abilities are maximized to the fullest. Cullen's daughter is found, but in doing so, Taige discovers and connects with a multitude of other murdered children who have been missing for decades. Cullen soon realizes that his daughter has the same gift as Taige, as did the children whose remains were recently discovered. He knows that in order for his daughter to ever have true peace in her life he will have to work with Taige in finding the man whose evil is responsible for the sheer hell these children endured. They won't have to look far though because he has Taige in his sights and he's bent on total destruction.

Shiloh Walker has outdone herself with this book. It's dark, sensual and suspenseful, but most of all it's chock full of excellently written emotion and turmoil. Taige and Cullen are damaged souls, and while their backgrounds couldn't have been more different, their hearts and their love for each other are very much the same. They both regret what could have been for their relationship all those years ago, but celebrate what the future may hold for them. I personally feel that this just might be Shiloh Walker's best work to date and I highly recommend it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly depressing read, July 17, 2010

By 

Love books, love gadgets - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Missing (Berkley Sensation) (Mass Market Paperback)

I had misgivings from the start, just based on the plot but the book had so many positive reviews that I decided to give it a try. Without giving away any spoilers, here's the plot: The hero abandons the heroine. He has a child with another woman while the heroine lives a life of relentless misery. The two meet up again after eight years apart when the hero needs the heroine's help to rescue his daughter.

I found it unbelievably sad and depressing that the heroine did not experience a moment of joy and happiness for almost an entire decade. I don't know who I was more angry with -- the hero for abandoning her or the heroine for being such a martyr. Or myself for reading the book, despite all the warning signs.

I will try another one of Shiloh Walker's books, but only if the plot doesn't raise any red flags. I hope she doesn't torture all her heroines like this, it was very painful to read.