Customer Reviews

Stolen in the Night: A Novel

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

 

 

Death comes like a thief in the night, the saying goes! And, it is true for Phoebe DeGraff, a thirteen year old who is abducted, raped, and murdered on a family camping trip. Her sister, Tessa, witnesses her sister's abduction. Older brother Jake has skipped out on his sisters to attend a dance in town. Mom, Dad, and baby Sean are sleeping in another tent. Tessa identifies the killer, who is executed ten years after the crime. And now, it seems that the DNA tests prove that the killer wasn't the killer, after all. What will Tessa do now?

Stolen in the Night discusses all the "things" that were taken from the DeGraff family the night of Phoebe's murder. Jake loses his happiness; instead, he becomes angry and guilty. Tessa has gnawing feeling to love and be loved; she adopts a young boy, Erny (Air-knee). Rob DeGraff dies from the stress of his daughter's death. Dawn DeGraff eventually moves to the town where Phoebe was murdered; there, Dawn tends the inn that housed the DeGraffs during the trial.

Tessa's sense of closure is stolen the day she learns that her sister's killer is innocent. Tessa is determined to find out the truth about her sister's death. She immerses herself in the details of the village residents. She does her research on the crime. Along the way, she helped by many people: Ben, attorney; Aldous, retired police chief; Ken, former inn owner; Julie, nurse and sister-in-law; Channing, newspaper owner. Tessa's sense of safety is stolen in the darkness that envelopes her world as she becomes the criminal in this decades old case. She deals with threats, insults, and harassment. Her world is turned upside down as people break her trust. Will Tessa come out of the dark? Will she find closure admist the confusion and pain?

The climax is a disturbing metaphor of being stolen in darkness. Very powerful, very scary.

Tessa is a likeable character. We know all that we need to about her. Tessa's motivations are revealed little by little throughout the story. Sometimes we won't agree with Tessa's actions, such as the condo incident or the John Deer cap. Through it all, we support her because we know her. We also understand her family's heartache.

This is not a contrived, simplistic mystery story. It's filled with a few twists and turns and a surprise ending. I highly recommend it!

the story line was good but I
did a lot of skip reading. chapter after chapter of junk words like who was wearing what...how their hair looked, etc. what took 307 pages to write could have been done in 200 pages.

Seriously - I thought this book was awful - very poor plots, hardly any believable....I listed to it as a book on tape, maybe it wasn't so noticeable on a written page but why oh why does the author insist on finishing almost all lines of dialogue with the person's name???

"Yes" said Tess
"I know" said Sam
"Thank you" said Tess

We get it - we can follow dialogue - especially stuff as simple as this....I don't think I would ever read anything else by this author. So many better writers out there.....

As an avid listener of audio books I have become a fan of anything read by Ann Marie Lee. Stolen in the Night is an example of how the right narrator can make all the difference by taking a fairly predictable plot and crafting it into a story that puts you on the edge of your seat. This is a good story made great by a very talented reader. Searching today for another one of her books!

I just finished reading "Stolen in the Night". It's unpredictable until the end and a good thriller.
I read numerous books by Patricia MacDonald, but still think her absolute master piece is "The Unforgiven" (1981), great island atmosphere, pre-Internet times and also very unpredictable.

However I don't understand why the dust wrapper claims that MacDonald would be Mary Higgins Clark's heir?
Both authors write great thrillers, no doubt about that, but they certainly do write in very different styles. I like Mary Higgins Clark and have read all her books, so I don't see any similarities.

Read "The Unforgiven". Get it used if it's out of print. I bet, you won't regret it!

What a great thriller. In fact, everything I have read by this author has been a great, edge of your seat, can't put it down, thriller. Keep writing Ms. Macdonald.

As always Patricia Macdonald writes books that you can't put down. This is no exception! Couldn't wait to find out "who done it".

First I want to say I normally enjoy anything Patricia MacDonald writes. This book to me was flat. The story did not have enough character analysis. Tess was a likeable heroine but it never got into many of the other family members. When and how does her father die? Where was her baby brother Sean? There are too many questions not answered and not enough depth of the story to get excited about. It will keep you guessing, but not making you want to ever re-read it.

At nine years of age, Tessa DeGraff witnessed the abduction of her sister. It was her description of the man that led the police to the culprit, and her testimony that put him on death row. Lazarus Abbott kidnapped, raped, and murdered a thirteen year old girl. After ten years of appeals, he was finally executed. His death brought Tessa the much needed closure.

Twenty years after the fact, Lazarus Abbott's mother appeals to the governor. Her belief in her son's innocence never wavered. DNA testing wasn't available twenty years ago.
It is now.

Tessa's sense of peace and contentment is shattered the day the governor announced the results. Lazarus Abbott was innocent! They executed the wrong man.

Tessa doesn't recant her testimony. She got a good look at the man and knew he was the man that took her sister, but she couldn't discount the DNA evidence. Determined to get to the truth, Tessa starts digging into the past and stirs up a hornet's nest. After escaping justice for twenty years, the killer didn't want to be identified.

Stolen in the Night is an action packed story with a lot of twists and turns. It kept me guessing right up to the end.

I couldn't agree more! This one is a thriller! I have read the other books by Patricia Mac Donald and this one doesn't disappoint either. Action packed and intense, I couldn't put it down. I stayed up well into the night to finish it! A must read.