Customer Reviews

Never Wave Goodbye: A Novel of Suspense

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As the mother of two young children who went off to camp for the first time this summer, I was riveted by this book from page one. I was sure that this could happen to me, and that's the sign of an author who's really connecting with the reader. As the book went on, I loved the different perspectives of parents, kidnappers, and children.

But the end of the book was SUCH a disappointment. I don't want to give it away, but the book resolves through a clumsy device, a plot twist that could NEVER happen. Furthermore, the suspicions of many characters are never resolved - we never find out whether X or Y was involved in some way. Those who do turn out to be involved? It again seems clumsy, unrealistic. So while the events up to and until the kidnappers are revealed and the children's fate is unveiled are fascinating and well-written, even keeping you on the edge of your seat, the finale leaves a lot to be desired.

Lena Trainor is full of emotions as she puts her nine-year-old daughter, Sarah, on a bus to camp for the first time. She's nervous and anxious for her daughter, but her mind is also on her relationship with her husband. She's so unfocused that she really doesn't pay much attention to the camp counselor who picks up Sarah. Until a few minutes later when the real bus shows up.

She hurridly begins to call the parents of the other children to be picked up. A total of four children were abducted, including Linda, Sarah's good friend; Franklin, the son of a local minister; and Tommy, the son of a local contractor. Within a few hours the parents all receive an email, demanding a $1,000,000 ransom.

When the FBI is called in, secrets are revealed, causing conflict within and between the families. No one knows who to trust, they simply want their child back. When the 24-hour mark passes, they begin to wonder if they will ever see their children again.

I simply cannot believe this is Magee's first novel. He reveals a story that is both captivating and chilling. Losing one's child is a parents worst nightmare, but the fact that these parents literally (although unwittingly) handed their children over to their abductors compounds it tremendously. As a parent myself, I couldn't help but feel the hurt, guilt, and anguish the parents were feeling. It probably doesn't help that my son's away at camp now, right? Never Wave Goodbye is not only a tale of suspense, but a study in the human condition, in how well one stands up to such a catastrophic event, seen from not only the parents' eyes but the of the children as well.

My only complaints were very minor. First, the vehicle used to abduct the children was described several times as being a camp van, but the cover clearly shows a school bus. I know that oftentimes authors don't have much say in what their cover looks like, so I don't blame the author. The second is the maturity of the children. They are all nine years old, some from pretty affluent families. They seemed be rather naive when it came to technology, such as using a computer, sending email, etc. My oldest son was able to do these things at a fairly early age, well before the age of nine. Again, a very minor complaint, but one I thought I should mention.

All issues aside, I do highly recommend this novel. It's the perfect thriller for a warm summer weekend...just don't read it while your child is away at camp!

What really struck me about this novel is just how real to life it is. Everything from the kidnapping to what the characters were going through was very realistic. Once I started reading the novel I couldn't put it down. The more I read the more I wanted to read. It definitely keeps you in suspense. It also sends a chill down your spine seeing how this could easily happen to our own family members.

Lena Trainor puts her nine-year-old daughter, Sarah, on the van for summer camp and waves good-bye, only to realize a short time later that something is terribly wrong when another van from the camp shows up in her driveway and a counselor comes out and says she is there to pick up Sarah for camp. Lena learns that three other children have been kidnapped-- picked up by the fake camp driver. The police and the FBI are soon involved and the families of the kidnapped children form a strained alliance of terrified parents, all trying to figure out how best to get their children home.

This is Doug Magee's first novel for adults, and it is a real page turner. Nobody knows quite who to trust and the police and FBI face the difficult task of trying to provide support for the families, while at the same time investigate the kidnappings and rule out involvement by one of the families. Every family seems to be hiding something-- including Lena's own husband, David, who is an obvious target of suspicion when the police learn that he lied about his reason for not being home when Sarah was put on the bus.

I liked getting the viewpoints of the various people involved. The point of view changes didn't bother me as much as they did some of the other reviewers because they allowed me to insight into the other characters' minds. Every person has their own way of handling crises, and in this book we can see the emergence of the families' true characters.

I did think that the author was slightly naive about 9 and 10-year-olds, even ones as sheltered as these kids seemed to be. The children's lack of knowledge about how to send email was absolutely unbelievable-- kids today practically are born with a keyboard in hand, ready to send their first tweet.

And I felt the ending was somewhat weak and there were some gaping loose ends. Okay, the little homage to the connection between mother and child was, I am sure, well intentioned, but it really strained all believability.

Nevertheless, I found this to be a very suspenseful book and nearly read it straight from start to finish. I look forward to reading more by this author.

I really enjoyed this book! I read the book in under 24 hours and just couldn't put it down. The plot makes for a suspenseful beginning and the story has many twists and turns. The author does a great job of making each character believable and real. I plan to recommend this book to my book club and other reader friends.

Feeling sad but proud that her nine years old daughter Sarah is going to spend two weeks at sleep away camp with her best friend Linda, the distraught mom pays little attention to the vehicle or driver picking up her child. Lena waves goodbye to Sarah and goes inside their home pondering how to get her marriage to David back on track. Soon a second van arrives to pick up Sarah.

By the time the confusion is cleared up, Sarah, Linda and two boys Tommy and Franklin are the victims of a kidnapping. The FBI leads the investigation, but has little to go on. The kidnappers demand one million.

In the woods, one abductor Mr. Everett is with the four frightened kids until he has an accident after a chance encounter with a hiker. The kids are alone struggling to survive. Sarah becomes the de facto leaders of the quartet

Never Wave Goodbye is a high octane suspense wrapped around several related (by the abductions) family dramas. Doug Magee gets inside the hearts and souls of the children and their parents; each sharing in common a fear they will not see one another ever again. Although the clues are obvious so that law enforcement seems inane and to a degree the parents (one can claim trepidation and grief for the latter), readers will relish this gut-wrenching human drama.

Harriet Klausner

It's a rare novel that can start off as well as "Never Wave Goodbye" ... and finish just as strongly. Even more rare now that Doug Magee's debut novel, like many before it, ran out of storytelling juice in the final pages.

But up until then ... wow. I felt like I was in the hands of one of the most self-assured debut authors I'd read in a long time. It's got an ingenious setup, wonderfully cranked tension and suspense and some well-timed twists -- all rendered in a slick and supremely confident fast-forward style.

The story: Sarah, the 9-year-old only child of Westchester, N.Y. couple Lena and David Trainor, gets on a bus to go to a two-week summer camp -- but Lena is shocked when the real camp bus arrives 15 minutes later. Sarah and three other kids have been kidnapped. The next several days pass agonizingly as the affected families snipe among themselves and the shadow of suspicion -- warranted and otherwise -- touches over all.

For about 80 percent of the story, this works perfectly -- I had no idea who might be the shadowy mastermind behind the abduction. Could it be the cheating husband and the other woman who's determined to assert control? Could it be the contractor who's hit hard times in the recession? Or the banker who might have some financial indiscretions to conceal? I honestly could not guess, as Magee expertly plays the reader without tipping his hand. And the reveal is a genuine shocker, and a fairly satisfying one.

But there are still big resolutions to come, and it's here that Magee gives up on storytelling based on logic and reason, and instead lets his characters -- big and small -- act on cliched intuition. It amounts to a giant deus ex machina -- a god in the machine -- that allows contrivance to carry the day over coherent plotting. It's emotionally satisfying to readers who are parents, I imagine, but to me it just seemed empty and anticlimactic -- all the more so because it left the main character out of the big payoff scene.

Another irritant, while I'm at it: The slippery shifts in points of view in "Never Wave Goodbye." For the most part, the story is told from Lena Trainor's POV, but the voice often shifts abruptly, from one paragraph to the next without any line breaks, into the POV of a secondary character. It's quite jarring, and feels like it's done primarily to put red-herring plot points in play than out of any desire by the author to let us really get to know these people. For the most part, the stories of the secondary characters are abruptly and unsatisfyingly dead-ended.

Overall, however, I admired Magee's skill at spinning genuine suspense, and would be more than willing to check out whatever he'll publish next.

As I was reading this book I kept mentally revising (downward) the number of stars I would give it. The premise is wonderful - kids getting on the bus for summer camp, when in fact the bus isn't the real camp bus and the kids (4 of them) are kidnapped. The problems with the book are numerous, however. The point of view is omniscient and switches from character to character in a way that's irritating and also distances the reader from the characters. The writing is clunky and the clues are heavy handed. The book jacket says this author has written children's books and this is his first adult book. It shows - especially the chapters that cover what the children are going through. They are actually the smoothest but read very much like the chapter books I used to read to my kids. The adult characters are flat and unbelievable. The sort of main female character - one of the mothers - is a doctor but you wouldn't know she had a brain in her head from watching her.

I enjoy suspense novels, and Never Wave Goodbye captured my interest from the moment I picked it up to read. Each chapter was a "page turner" and I finished it in two nights! The development of the main characters is well thought out and Doug allows us to view their inner thoughts. I found myself guessing who was behind this plot, then re-guessing with each new development ........right to the very end. It's a great read and I look forward to more novels from the author.

Every parent and child has coming of age moments. Some are looked upon with pure unadulterated joy... such as a baby's first steps... or a baby's first words. Some are more gut wrenching such as the first time you drop your child off at day care or at their first day of kindergarten. A level above the first day at school in the "gut-wrenching" department is your child's first overnight trip without you... or the seemingly endless first sleep away camp adventure. As four separate families face this emotional goodbye in their driveways and get ready for the poignancy of two full weeks without their children... and the children try to bravely face the prospects of two weeks away from their parents and home... a situation beyond their worst nightmares takes place. Shortly after all four children are picked up by the camp van... another van... the "actual" camp van arrives to pick up their children.

As it quickly becomes apparent that a despicable crime has been committed... the first time novelist Doug Magee with the efficiency of a tornado engulfs the reader in email ransom notes... local law enforcement... the FBI... and not only husband against wife... but couples immediately thinking the worst of the other parents involved in this kidnapping scheme. On the parents side most of the book is told through the eyes of Lena and David, parents of strong-willed daughter Sarah. Lena is an oncologist and David who has secrets of his own is in the computer business. The other parents involved include a high level executive with Citibank and his religious wife... a construction company owner... and Sarah's good friend Linda's parents who are down on their luck and constantly let everybody know it. As the investigation takes place the scenes switch back and forth from the home front where the depiction of today's media engulfing every move the parents make is spot on... to the plight of the kids in the wilderness with one of the members of the multi-level kidnapping team. Early on the kidnapper that is with the kids in a hidden remote location in the Adirondack's dies (Not a spoiler) and this presents the one semi-humorous situation in this taut novel. Despite this being the "from-birth"... to morning-noon-and-night computer generation... when these four nine-year-olds grab the computer from the corpse... and finally get a communication signal... none of them can remember how to get to an email account... and when they do they can't remember the password.

As accusations fly in the privacy of the parents homes... Sarah becomes a leader of the kidnapped clan... and David and Lena face marital uncertainties. At times through narration Lena seems attracted to a cop named Martin and one of the parents Mike who owns the construction company. These two internal personal flirtatious thoughts don't seem to hold muster with the overall flow of the story. As the FBI investigates and grills a suspect... and rescue teams activate... and Sarah sees dead bodies and hears bears... yet leads on relentlessly... at this point the story is gripping. There is only one weak area in this riveting story and that is when two of the participants are led by a "spiritual-sensory-sixth-sense-type of connection.

This is a very impressive effort for a first novel.

Note: Interesting tidbit. Though throughout the book they predominately describe the vehicle that picks up the kids as a van... the picture on the book jacket is clearly a school bus.