The Abduction

Ever get a book from a friend that they are done with and it sits and sits and sits on your shelves for 4 1/2 years and then one day re-read the back cover and wonder why you haven't picked it up yet? Or is that just me.. Anywhoo.. The Abduction by Mark Gimenez is one of those.  My friend gave it to me before she moved to Texas and it has moved multiple bookshelves in my home but never hit my hands until just recently.  It is also one of the books on my TBR challenge that I'm doing with www.roofbeamreader.com for 2014.  Nothing like starting at the very beginning of the year, right? I WILL FINISH THIS ha.  My bookshelves need cleared out before the next used book sale!

Description: 
Ben Brice lives alone in the New Mexico wilderness where he battles memories of Vietnam with oceans of Jim Beam. Miles away in Texas, his estranged son, John, an Internet geek-turned-billionaire, half watches his daughter Gracie's soccer game while conducting business on his cell phone. When her mother Elizabeth arrives, the coach reports that her uncle has already collected Gracie. But Gracie has no uncle--she was kidnapped.
From international best-selling author Mark Gimenez comes a terrifying thriller in which dark family secrets make the finding of ten-year-old Gracie Brice more uncertain with every passing minute. And so begins a furious race against time to save Gracie from unknown kidnappers. With the FBI camped out in the Brice mansion, the family offers a reward of $25 million. Somehow, Ben and John Brice must find Gracie before it is too late. As the story unfolds with riveting twists and turns, the reader discovers that behind the kidnapping is an extraordinary government plot that could change the course of American history. And time is running out....

This book is a page turner! There are new mysteries and new plots at the end of almost every small chapter. 

The book is broke down into hourly chapters and alternates narrators about the abduction of Gracie Ann Brice.  It's suspenseful and the characters make you want to know more about them and why they have the secrets they do.  I can't really say much without giving out the details but this is a great book to pick up and devour in just a few sittings (which is what I did). 

I must also be in a war theme since I read The Ranger, Something Like Normal and this book back to back. There are a lot of flashbacks to Ben's time in Vietnam and how his actions as a Green Beret may or may not be directly related to the kidnapping of his only grandchild.  He was an elite officer who was by himself imbedded with local Indian tribes helping them.  Lots of interesting tidbits Army life during Vietnam time.  Which may or may not be completely off base but I know little to nothing about that so who knows! It was fascinating to read.

Have you read any great mystery/thrillers recently? Do you know a lot about the army during Vietnam?