The Abduction of Mary Rose [Kindle Edition]

Joan Hall Hovey (Author)

Book Description

The Abduction of Mary Rose, published by Books We Love, is a thriller in the tradition of Stephen King and Mary Higgins Clark, written by the Canadian Master of Suspense Joan Hall Hovey.

Following the death of the woman she believed to be her mother, 28-year-old Naomi Waters learns from a malicious aunt that she is not only adopted, but the product of a brutal rape that left her birth mother, Mary Rose Francis, a teenager of Micmac ancestry, in a coma for 8 months.

Dealing with a sense of betrayal and loss, but with new purpose in her life, Naomi vows to track down Mary Rose's attackers and bring them to justice. She places her story in the local paper, asking for information from residents who might remember something of the case that has been cold for nearly three decades.

She is about to lose hope that her efforts will bear fruit, when she gets an anonymous phone call. Naomi has attracted the attention of one who remembers the case well.

But someone else has also read the article in the paper. The man whose DNA she carries.

And he has Naomi in his sights.

Reviews:

"…Ms. Hovey's talent in creating characters is so real, you feel their emotions and their fears. You want to yell at them to warn of the danger . . . and you do! Your shouts fall on deaf ears . . . and you cry!


Alfred Hitchcock and Stephen King come to mind, but JOAN HALL HOVEY is in a Class by herself!…"J.D. Michael Phelps, Author of My Fugitive, David Janssen

"…CANADIAN MISTRESS OF SUSPENSE…The author has a remarkable ability to turn up the heat on the suspense… great characterizations and dialogue…" James Anderson, author of Deadline

"…Can compete with any mystery,suspense novel on the shelves..." Linda Hersey,
Fredericton Gleaner, NB

Product Details

• File Size: 447 KB
• Print Length: 238 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Books We Love Ltd. (September 8, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005M4W22I
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,566 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 66 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Spine-Tingling Murder Mystery! September 29, 2011

By Debby M.

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Naomi's story begins at the hospital with her mother, who is dying of cancer. The author's description of the ward where the dying patients are being cared for gives the reader a feeling of being there and the despair of death that hangs in the air. She also conveys the compassion of the medical staff who not only try to make things as comfortable as possible for the patient, but also try to console the relatives and friends who are visiting.

After her mother passes away, Naomi learns from the obituary that her vindictive aunt had written that she is adopted. She and her adoptive mother had been very close, and Naomi is devastated that her mother hadn't trusted her enough to share that information.

She discovers that her biological mother, Mary Rose, a teenager, was raped and left for dead. After eight months in a coma, Mary Rose gave birth to Naomi a few days before she died. Naomi becomes obsessed with finding the rapist/killer, and after researching the very few almost 30-year-old newspaper accounts of Mary Rose's abduction, she asks the local newspaper to run a story about her discovery, hoping to bring a very old cold case to the front.

Becoming frustrated with the lack of interest on the part of the police, Naomi decides to take things into her own hands. From there, the suspense builds as Naomi collects more evidence, and a game of cat and mouse between her and the killer, who has read the newspaper story, ensues.

Joan Hall Hovey has an incredible ability to get inside the killer's head and show his thoughts and feelings. It gives me chills to think, as she portrays in the novel, that we can be in the same area as a rapist/killer/criminal, and not realize that we also could become a victim, through no fault of our own, but because the killer may be frustrated with the victim he really wants, and views us as an easy target.

In the last chapters of the book, confrontations between Naomi and the killer escalate. At times I wondered at her choices, but admired her courage. The final showdown is incredibly exciting and nerve wracking--I found myself literally on the edge of my seat, rooting for Naomi, but could not guess what was going to happen next. Dinner preparations were put on hold until I had finished the book.

An exciting and suspenseful ending wraps up this incredible novel. If you like murder mysteries, spine chilling suspense, a reason to lock your doors and watch who is behind you on the road, then this book is a must read for you!

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Abduction of Mary Rose January 30, 2012

By Lana Baker

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a fairly good mystery, with decent suspense in places. Hovey's work here verges on very good, but never quite makes it. I see evidence that she can (maybe will be, maybe already is) be a great writer, as the bones of the story are wonderful.

The opening hooked me right in, and the first third of the book kept the momentum going. As the story progressed, though, the suspense lessened, the dastardly villain was revealed (about halfway through) and the instances of proofreading errors increased greatly. It became more of a chore to keep going, and just about the time the mistakes made me consider quitting, the book reached its climax. The 3/4 in place of dashes, starting with the first page and continuing through the entirety of the book, were especially annoying.

I did keep reading to the end, because I had come to care a bit about the main character, Mary Rose's daughter, Naomi. As far as characterization goes, Naomi was definitely most fleshed out and easiest to understand. Secondary characters were less consistently well done and in some cases, not well at all for their importance to the continuity.

This book was not a dog, but wasn't great, either. Solid three stars for keeping me interested in what happened to Naomi long enough to ignore the other stuff.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Joan Hall Hovey CLASSIC! November 2, 2011

By Aaron P. Lazar

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have been a fan of Joan Hall Hovey since I read CHILL WATERS last year. After that, I reached for each and every release with the same excitement I do for new books by bestselling authors like Dean Koontz. And with THE ABDUCTION OF MARY ROSE, Ms. Hovey follows in the same tradition of grabbing her readers by the throat and never letting go until the final pages bring the story to its ultimate resolution.

It's not so much the de facto smooth writing skills, or the vivid scene-setting that makes you feel as if you are right there with the protagonist, or the wonderful, natural-sounding dialog, or the edge-of-your-seat suspense, or the wild chase scenes that keep you up into the wee hours of morning with your heart pounding...No, I expect all of these elements in this author's books. What shines so brightly above and beyond these great traits, however, is Ms. Hovey's characters. Rich with back-story, as real as the person sitting next to you on the couch or in your office, these people leap off the page and invade your mind, lingering for weeks or months afterwards.

In THE ABDUCTION OF MARY ROSE, you'll immediately begin to root for Naomi Waters, a twenty-eight year old woman who records audio books for a living. Bright, loving, and a dedicated daughter, her story starts at her dying mother's bedside.

Now, imagine losing your only parent to a devastating disease. On the day of the funeral, now imagine discovering that she wasn't your mother, that you were adopted. With that comes the knowledge that the photo on your dresser of your long dead military hero father was fake, too. Add to that the sudden unveiling of all this through your mother's obituary, written by the nasty sister of the only mother you ever knew, and you have the springboard from which this riveting story moves forward.

When Naomi starts to dig into her birthmother's history, she's horrified to discover that poor Mary Rose was only sixteen when she was abducted, brutally raped and left for dead. The Micmac native girl lived long enough in a coma to give birth to Naomi, then died shortly thereafter. The case was never solved, and for nearly thirty years the rapist and his cohort have lived free among the local townspeople. One elderly witness saw two men take her back then, but couldn't react fast enough to save the poor girl when the abduction happened.

Ms. Hovey's scene of the abduction broke my heart. I'm still upset about it, and still feel ragged hatred toward the men who took her, used her, and threw her away. I am filled with sorrow for Mary Rose's dear, sweet grandfather, who lost his only family member to violence of the worst sort. I'm not sure I would have survived such a loss, to tell the truth.

Yet through all of this tension and horrible upheaval, Naomi vows to dig into the past, catch her mother's killer or killers, and bring them to justice. With skills that rival some of the best detectives, born of a passion to avenge her mother and a close spiritual connection with Mary Rose, she steadfastly makes progress in spite of the local police's lack of interest.

In Joan Hall Hovey's inimitable style, she ratchets up the suspense and fear as the story unfolds. Naomi goes public, gains the interest of the locals, and in particular one very brutal and nasty man, her mother's rapist and her biological father.

The problem is, this man has no conscience, and only wants to destroy the DNA evidence of his misdeed that lies within Naomi's cells. The final scenes will have you rooting for Naomi and clinging to the edge of your seat. They are brilliantly rendered.

When you buy this book-and I highly recommend you do-you need to set aside time to read. Start it on a Friday night or Saturday morning, or you'll be calling your boss to take a vacation day. Yes, it's that good.

More About the Author

In addition to her critically aclaimed novels, Joan Hall Hovey's articles and short stories have appeared in such diverse publications as The Toronto Star, Atlantic Advocate, Seek, Home Life Magazine, Mystery Scene, The New Brunswick Reader, Fredericton Gleaner, New Freeman and Kings County Record. Her short story Dark Reunion was selected for the anthology investigating Women, Published by Simon & Pierre.

Ms. Hovey has held workshops and given talks at various schools and libraries in her area, including New Brunswick Community College, and taught a course in creative writing at the University of New Brunswick. For a number of years, she has been a tutor with Winghill School, a distance education school in Ottawa for aspiring writers.

She is a member of the Writer's Federation of New Brunswick, past regional Vice-President of Crime Writers of Canada, Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

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Note from author re photos:

The gazebo my husband built for me is where I like to go to write in nice weather.
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The photo of myself with Stephen King was taken in London, England at a writer's workshop, in 1984. Mr. King is as wonderful a speaker (well, almost) as he is a writer.
That cute little guy holding the sign is my grandson, Liam.
The little girl is me at 9.