Book ~ "Someone Saw Something" (2024) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ A missing child is every parent’s worst nightmare. For journalist Corina Corado, it’s a terrifying reality. 

When six-year-old Gabriel vanishes from Central Park, his mother, news anchor Corina Corado, is desperate for answers. Who would take her son - and why? 

Detectives suspect there’s a connection to the barrage of hate mail Corina’s received over the years. In her line of work, it’s not unusual for agitated conspiracy theorists to send messages that threaten violence … or worse. But as the investigation deepens, the secrets that Corina, her husband, Robert, and her stepdaughter, Charlotte, have kept start to unravel. As the truth behind Gabriel’s disappearance emerges, Corina must race the clock to track down her missing child…before paying the ultimate price.

Corina is married to Robert and they have two children ... Charlotte is sixteen and Gabriel is six. Robert was supposed to pick up Gabriel after school but he's tied up in a meeting at the last minute so Corina asks Charlotte. Charlotte and Gabriel cut through the park so Gabriel can fly the airplane he had just built. She's texting her older boyfriend she isn't supposed to have and isn't paying attention and Gabriel disappears. The police are called and the hunt is on. 

I've read a few books by this author and thought this one was okay. There were so many side stories (aka red herrings) and I felt the book could have been edited down so it wasn't so long and drawn out. Corina is a journalist and had been getting death threats from a conspiracy theory group followers, Corina feels Robert is hiding something (an affair perhaps?), Charlotte is still in contact with the boyfriend though her parents had told her to stop, Corina has a sleazy boss who had put the moves on her and then threatened her, a rival network keeps broadcasting that Corina had been so desperate for a baby that she stole one from a dying mother in Nicaragua and illegally adopted him (ie Gabriel), how are the Russians involved, and more. She does have the support of her news team, friends and a support group that is helping to find Gabriel.

It is written in third person perspective with the focus on wherever the action is. The ending came together quickly and was a bit a letdown for me. I thought Corina acted rashly at times, thus putting Gabriel in danger, and not letting the police do their job.

Book ~ "Everything She Feared" (2023) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ When a teen falls off a cliff while taking a selfie, the last thing she sees before plummeting to her death is Katie Harmon, the nine-year-old girl she was babysitting, looking down at her. 

Investigators gather at the scene, and Katie’s mother, Sara, rushes to comfort her daughter, yet there’s a small, secret ping of alarm in Sara’s heart that she cannot share - though rookie detective Kim Pierce senses it. 

For years, others have tried to unravel this secret, from true-crime podcasters to a haunted journalist searching for a killer who vanished after being released from prison. And now, with detectives tightening the focus of their investigation, Sara is consumed by her darkest fear - that the babysitter’s death was not accidental.

Katie is nine years old and on a day trip with a bunch of other children and their counsellors. Katie and Anna, who is a counsellor and also babysits Katie, are the last to get off the bus. Stopping near a cliff to take a selfie, Anna falls off the cliff but manages to grab a branch and hangs on. Katie runs for help but by the time she gets back, Anna is dead at the bottom of the cliff. The police are called in and investigate ... was it an accident ... or suicide ... or was Anna pushed and if so, by whom?

In the meantime, Ryan's sister, along with others, were murdered by a serial killing couple back in the 1990s. The husband committed suicide in prison and the wife served her time and was released seven years ago. Ryan has been trying to track the wife because the whereabouts of the bodies is unknown and Ryan wants to know where his sister's body is so he can give her a proper burial and have peace at last. One of the trails he is following takes him to Seattle where Anna had died.

I've read a few books by this author and thought this one was okay.  It is written in third person perspective with the focus on wherever the action is. The first part of the book is intentionally vague, alluding to things that Sara knows about her past and is ashamed of ... it eventually all comes out but as it was easy enough to figure out what was going to be revealed, the book could have been edited down a bit. The ending came together quickly and was a bit convoluted.

Book ~ "Her Last Goodbye" (2022) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ Perfect wife. Doting mom. Jennifer Griffin was loved by everyone, including the women in her suburban-neighborhood book club. Their meetings sometimes went late, but Jenn always came home.

Until that night.

When Greg Griffin wakes to find his wife is not in bed, his blood runs cold. Her book club friends say Jenn left for home hours ago. But she’s missing. Greg tells detectives their marriage is good but his alibi is razor-thin. With their young son away at a sleepover, Greg had all night to commit a crime. And there are scrapes on his hands.

Investigators discover Jenn has troubling secrets but she isn't the only one. With the threads of their picture-perfect life unraveling, Greg is forced to confront the lies that hold their marriage together - and a dark past that refuses to stay buried.

Jennifer and Greg were high school sweethearts and have an eight-year-old son, Jake.  Jennifer works for an optical company and is quite involved in her community and Greg owns a struggling construction company.  When Jennifer doesn't come home from her book club, Greg drives around looking for her.  When he can't find her, he calls the police, who suspect that Greg had something to do with her disappearance because he really doesn't have an alibi.  Was Jennifer murdered?  She had been quiet and sad lately ... did she run away?  As the police investigate, they discover that both Jennifer and Greg have secrets they are trying to keep.

I've read a few books by this author and liked this one.  I liked the writing style and it is written in third person perspective with the focus on wherever the action is.  There was a lot going on with everyone having secrets that are hinted at and eventually revealed ... there were many who could have had to do with Jennifer's disappearance.  The "whodunnit" was a bit convoluted but it came together in the end.

Book ~ "Search for Her" (2021) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ At a truck stop near Las Vegas, fourteen-year-old Riley Jarrett vanishes from her family’s RV, turning their cross-country dream of starting over into a nightmare. 

Investigators have their work cut out for them. The massive, bustling truck plaza in the desert is the perfect place for someone to disappear - or be taken. 

Detectives pursue every chilling lead as all eyes fall to the newly blended family with a tragic past. With the clock ticking down on the likelihood that Riley’s alive, suspicions run deep. Everyone - from Riley’s mom to her stepdad to her stepbrother and her ex-boyfriend - has something to hide. And their secrets could prove deadly.

A couple years ago, Grace's husband had passed away in a car accident and John's wife and daughter had passed away in a boating accident.  Grace and Tim meet, fall in love and get married bringing together Grace's 14-year-old daughter, Riley, and Tim's 18-year-old son, Blake to form a new family.  Looking for a fresh start, they head from San Diego to Pittsburgh where John has a new job in an RV.  Blake finds it boring and Riley is mad because she's forced to break up with her boyfriend and leave her friends behind.  

The family stops at a huge truck stop.  Leaving Riley pouting in the RV, they go in and get food.  They are miles down the road toward Las Vegas before they realize that Riley isn't in the RV.  Heading back to the truck stop, they get in an accident and the RV is totalled.  By the time they get to the truck stop, lots of time has gone by.

Was Riley kidnapped and a family member involved?  Did a local pedophile grab and kill her?  Or did Caleb, Riley's ex-boyfriend, arrive to come get her?  As the police get involved, they discover that Grace, John and Blake are keeping secrets.  

I've read a few books by this author and thought this one was okay.  I liked the writing style and it is written in third person perspective with the focus on wherever the action is.  There was a lot going on with everyone having secrets that are hinted at and eventually revealed.  I thought it was obvious what happened to Riley and I wasn't buying it.

Book ~ "Their Last Secret" (2020) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ Janie Klassyn was only fourteen years old when she made the blood pact with her friends. She could never imagine she was setting in motion the horrifying crime that would tear her peaceful prairie town apart. 

Twenty years later in California, school counselor Emma Grant struggles to keep her past buried. But when she finds a note on her car threatening to reveal her secret, it becomes harder to keep up the deception. Even her teenage stepdaughter suspects that Emma is hiding something. Now, with her celebrated true-crime author husband digging into a decades-old murder case for his next book, and a suspicious accident involving someone who’s been following her, the perfect life Emma’s built is crumbling, forcing her to take desperate steps to save it.

Janie, Nikki and Marie (the "Skull Sisters") were fourteen and living in Eternity, a small town in Manitoba.  Janie regularly babysat for the Tullocks and, though they were wealthy, they always shortchanged her when it came to paying her.  One night while the Tullocks were out of town, the girls decided to break into their house and steal some money so Janie could have what was owed to her.  The family came home unexpectedly and by the end of the night, the family of four were brutally murdered.  It didn't take the police long to realize that Janie, Nikki and Marie did it and they were sentenced to prison.  When they were released to start a new life, their names were changed and their records buried since they had been minors.

Twenty years later, we meet Emma who is a school counselor in California.  She is married to Ben, a successful crime writer, and stepmother to Kayla.  Suddenly there are notes left on her windshield and she suspects she is being followed and she'll do anything to keep her secret past hidden.

I've read a few books by this author and liked this one ... until I got to the end.  I didn't like the ending and thought it should have gone a different way.  I liked the writing style and it is written in third person perspective with the focus on wherever the action is.  It jumps back and forth in time, which is noted at the beginning of the chapters so you know where and when it is.

Book ~ "Missing Daughter" (2019) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ Life can change in an instant. For Ryan and Karen Lane, it happens on the morning they discover their twelve-year-old daughter’s window open, their beloved Maddie missing from her bed.

Police investigate. Suspicions swirl. A teenage boy admits he was outside her bedroom window the night she disappeared. A halfway house for convicts recently opened in the neighborhood. The Lane family is thrown into turmoil, then detectives turn their sights on them.

No one is ruled out. Not Karen, with her tragic past, who argued with her daughter. Not Ryan, with his violent streak. Not Maddie’s thirteen-year-old brother, Tyler, who heard voices in her room the night she vanished.

Days, weeks, months, then agonizing years go by without answers, the Lanes fearing that Maddie is gone forever… until a stunning twist shocks everyone, plunging the family deeper into a world of buried secrets whose revelations threaten the very foundation of their lives. 

The Lanes seem like a normal family.  Ryan is struggling running his late father's business.  Things are tough financially and Ryan is stressed about it.  Karen is working extra shifts as a cashier at the grocery store to bring in extra money.  Their son, Tyler, is a typical 13-year-old teenager and their daughter, Maddie, is 12 going on 21 ... she wants to start dating, something that her mother has refused to let her do, so they fight often about it.

One morning, the family discovers Maddie is missing.  Tyler had heard voices in her room in the middle of the night but assumed Maddie was talking to one of her friends on her cell phone.  Mud is found on the carpet near Maddie's bedroom window and a ladder is discovered under the window.  Ryan and Karen immediately call the police and the investigation begins.

The police interview everyone ... family, friends, the residents of a halfway house on the other side of the woods, neighbours, even the pizza delivery guy.  No one knows anything and the police feel that her family are involved so never let off the pressure.  Years go by until the family and police finally discover what happened to her.

I've read a few books by this author and liked this one.  It is written in third person perspective with the focus on wherever the action is.  There were lots of twists and turns with possible "whodunnits.  Just when I thought we found out "whodunnit" and the story was over, there was a final twist.  There was a revelation at the end that I didn't think wasn't necessary or needed.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

I look forward to reading more books by this author.

Book ~ "Full Tilt" (2015) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ Deep in the woods of upstate New York a woman flees a blazing barn. She is burned beyond recognition and her dying words point police to a labyrinth of "confinement rooms" - rooms designed to hold human beings captive - where they make other chilling discoveries. 

In Manhattan, Kate Page, a single mom and reporter with a newswire service, receives a heart-stopping call from a detective on the case. A guardian angel charm found at the scene fits the description of the one belonging to Kate's sister, Vanessa, who washed away after a car crash in a mountain river twenty years ago. 

Kate has spent much of her life searching for the truth behind her little sister's disappearance. Now, a manhunt for a killer who's kept a collection of victims prisoner for years without detection becomes her final chance to either mourn Vanessa's death - or save her life. 

A woman is found running out of a burning barn.  Though she dies of her injuries, her last words were that there were others.  As the barn is searched, the burned body of a man is found along with a suicide note in a nearby truck.

Kate is a reporter for an online service.  Twenty years ago, she was the sole survivor of a car accident that claimed the lives of her foster parents and her younger sister.  Her sister's body, though, was never found and Kate never gave up the hope that Vanessa was still alive.  She is contacted by the police because a charm matching the description of the one Vanessa was wearing when she died is found in the barn fire.  This leads Kate to pursue this story from a professional level but more importantly from a personal level.  Is her sister alive after all these years?  If not, how did her sister's charm end up in the fire?

This is the fourth book I've read by this author and I thought it was okay.  It was written in third person perspective with the focus bouncing around depending on what was going on.  Though it was an interesting story, I found at times the writing could have been tighter.  It was a bit farfetched in some of the storylines but I just went with it.  I found it amazing how much Kate was able to uncover about the killer's past and identity that the various police agencies didn't (thank goodness she was involved!).

Book ~ "Vengeance Road" (2009) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ The murder of a broken-hearted woman and the chilling disappearance of her friend raise questions about their ties to a respected detective and lead to one journalist’s obsession to find the truth! 

The body of Bernice Hogan, a troubled young ex-nursing student with a tragic past, is found in a shallow grave near a forest creek. 

Jolene Peller, a single mom struggling to build a new life with her little boy, vanishes the night she tried to find Bernice. 

Hero cop, Karl Styebeck, is beloved by his community but privately police are uneasy with the answers he gives to protect the life - and the lie - he’s lived. 

The case haunts Jack Gannon, a gritty, blue-collar reporter whose sister ran away from their family years ago. Gannon risks more than his job to pursue the story behind Styebeck's dark secret, his link to the women and the mysterious big rig roaming America's loneliest highways on its descent into eternal darkness.

Jolene is a former hooker who has turned her life around and is moving to Florida to start a new life with her young son.  She tries one last time to convince her friend, Bernice, also a hooker to do the same.  But then Bernice is found dead and Jolene disappears, her bus ticket unused.

Jack Gannon is a reporter who had once had bright future.  He put his dreams on hold when his parents were killed in a car accident.  He missed his opportunity and is still a reporter for a newspaper in Buffalo.  He is investigating the murder of Bernice when he gets inside information that a hero cop named Styebeck is the killer and prints his story.  Refusing to reveal his sources or retract the story, Jack is fired.  Determined to find out what happened, Jack continues to investigate and uncovers some shocking information about Styebeck's past (which is interesting yet sordid).

This is the third book I've read by this author and I liked it.  I liked the writing style ... it was written in third person perspective with the focus bouncing around depending on what was going on.  Plus it goes back in time to give you some background (it's in italics so you know you've stepped into a different time period).  As a head's up, there are some F-bombs.

I liked Jack.  Despite being threatened with the loss of his job, he is honourable and trustworthy and doesn't give up his sources.   Jolene's mom trust hims and looks to him to find the truth when no one else would help her.  He seems to lead a lonely existence, though, because he has no friends, family, romantic interest or pets.

It is the first in the Jack Gannon series and I look forward to reading the others.

Book ~ "Six Seconds" (2009) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ A vengeful woman who aches for her place in paradise ... 

In Iraq, an aid worker who lost her husband and child in a brutal attack saves the life of an American contractor. Believing he can help her avenge her family's deaths, she follows him back home to the United States. 

An anguished mother desperate to find her child ...

In California a soccer mom arrives to pick up her son from school, only to discover that her husband has taken their child and vanished without a trace.

A detective who needs to redeem himself ...

In the Rocky Mountains, an off-duty cop rescues a little girl from a raging river moments before she utters her final words in his arms. Haunted by failure, he launches an investigation that leads him to a Montana school where time is ticking down on an event that will rewrite history.

Three strangers entangled in a plot to change the world in only six seconds.

Samara is an aid worker in Iraq whose husband and son were killed in a brutal attack.  Brutalized and lost, she is taken in and shown how she can be with her family again in paradise.  Jake is a truck driver who takes a job in Iraq because he and his family need the money.  Samara saves him after his he has been kidnapped.  When Jake returns home to the States, he isn't the same.  Convinced his wife, Maggie, is cheating on him, he takes their son, Logan, and takes off to make a life with Samara who has followed Jake to the States.

Dan is a Canadian Mountie whose wife has just died.  While in the mountains grieving, he rescues a young girl in a river.  When she dies, he sets out to find out how her family died in an accident.  His investigation leads Dan to Maggie.

During all this, the Pope is planning on visiting a small town in Montana and the Secret Service are determined to do all they can to protect him.

This is the second book I've read by this author and I thought it was okay.  The terrorist plot was far-fetched but I just went with it.  I liked the writing style.  It was written in third person perspective with the focus bouncing around depending on what was going on.

I liked the characters. Dan is grieving over the death of his wife and solving the deaths of the family in the mountain gave him focus and a chance to redeem himself.  I felt for Maggie.  She was dealing with a husband who had a terrible experience in Iraq (though he never talked about it) while assuring her young son that everything was going to be okay ... until her husband kidnapped her son.  Despite the fact that no one would help her, she never gave up and kept looking.

I'd recommend this book if you are into stories about terrorists.

Book ~ "Into the Dark" (2013) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ The sole survivor of a heartbreaking family tragedy…

Claire Bowen, a haunted psychologist, devotes her life to helping troubled women rebuild theirs. But her dream of a family with her new husband, Robert, a pilot and local hero, begins to crumble as disturbing revelations from his past emerge.

And a grieving cop who lures a killer from the shadows…

Detective Joe Tanner, struggling to overcome his wife's death while raising their little girl alone, heads the task force formed to stop the monster who has resurfaced with a chilling message.

Race the clock in a life-and-death struggle to save the next victim…

In the wake of five cold-case murders across Los Angeles, one of Claire's most promising patients vanishes. Gut instinct tells Tanner the truth is within his grasp, while Claire is torn between guilt and terror over what's to come. As time runs out, both are pulled deeper and deeper into an unspeakable darkness.

Claire is a psychologist who is married to Robert, a pilot.  Claire really wants to have a baby and is ready to start treatments to make it happen.  Robert has been acting strange lately, though, which makes Claire wonder what's wrong ... she suspects he might be having an affair with his ex-wife.

It's the tenth anniversary of the first of five murders of which the killer has never been found.  Police officer Joe Tanner approaches reporter Mark Harding to do a story to see if anything comes out of it, which he does.  This wakes something up in the murderer and he has to kill again.  Amber, one of Claire's patients disappears ... was Amber's estranged husband or the murderer who took her and is she still alive?

This is the first book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it.  I liked the writing style ... it was well-paced and kept me wanting to read more to see what was going to happen.  You find out right away who the murderer is and it's interesting to follow along to see how they maintain normalcy, why they are the way they are and what eventually happens to them.  As a head's up, the language and activity at times is for mature readers.

I liked the characters.  Claire is devoted to helping abused women ... her mother had been killed by her abusive father (who then killed himself) when Claire was a child.  Robert is honoured as a hero ... he rescued a woman and her baby from a burning car.  Claire has a close circle of friends including Julie.  Joe is still grieving the loss of his wife to cancer (he plays a video of her on his phone whenever he needs comforting) and is being a good dad to his young daughter.

I would recommend this book!