Great Solid Suspense Mystery, Hidden, by Thomas Hall Spotlights Child Abduction...

"The dream always started out innocently enough: Jonathan and his wife, Cindy, are sitting on a beach blanket by a lake, laughing and joking about something or other. Cindy then decides to go for a swim. Jonathan stays on the blanket, preferring to read.

"After several minutes and without warning, the sky turns the color of putty. It's as if God has taken a paintbrush and on a single stroke obliterated the blue overhead. Even more startling is the condition of the lake. There are rolling waves and whitecaps heading toward Cindy. Jonathan calls to her with fear in his voice, but she dismisses him.

 'If it starts thundering and lightning, I'll come in..."

"Other  than the fact that Cindy had died, nothing in the dream had actually occurred...

~~~

Hidden

By Thomas Hall

Jonathan's wife had been killed just months ago and Jonathan had fallen apart until he was able to realize that his son, Eric, had lost his mother and was also grieving. Eric was just now beginning to respond to his attempts to establish a better relationship between the two... It had been an average morning when Jonathan had dropped off Eric at school...

When they told him Eric was gone, Jonathan couldn't really be sure that he had waited there until Eric had actually opened the door and entered school. But that didn't matter, it didn't change the fact that he was gone--possibly kidnapped, possibly a runaway. Eric was six years old...

As two of the most important individuals in this drama, readers will not have much interaction with either. Jonathan must meekly stand by, perhaps praying, perhaps trying to remember any little thing that might help the police, the FBI...

Eric? He's Hidden...

"The silence was brief as Walker continued. "You
know, it's funny. Over the years I've gotten a lot of
satisfaction from what I do. But if someone asked
me whether I love my job, I'd say no. How can you
love doing something that half the time ends up
with some kid being scarred for life, or worse? So
why did I keep doing it?" A pause, "Well, at the
risk of sounding like a self-serving jerk, I'm good
at it. And just maybe a few more kids are alive
because of that. But as great as the successful ones
make you feel, somehow they don't make up for
other ones."
~~~

This is a solid mystery that will keep you in suspense, until--everything starts falling apart for the bad guys! And when that happens, a variety of criminal activities will fall out... from many, many places...

Eric, though, has been hidden...

The man who kidnapped him has been killed...

The man who fed him has been killed...

The criminal investigation team leaders for this kidnapping are, simply, two characters that would, if we were in this situation, be the best possible men to be working the case.

Dave Munoz is the local detective but has been joined by FBI agent Craig Walker. Walker surprises Munoz by being a very informal, let's-work-together type of agent. In fact by the end of the story, they are thinking about working together... I'm hoping that the author decides to do at least another sequel...and possibly a series! That's how good these guys are. They work the case, rarely take time off and use every means possible to, in this situation, find the child! Walker has plenty of experience in abduction cases, while Munoz adds the creative thinking and perseverance...

Action moves back and forth between the kidnapping case and the activities of the criminals involved. Tony Sarno is the front man for most of the events that occur. We find him initially being arrested in a hotel that is being used for prostitution--he is in the hallway, but had dropped his cell phone as the police do a raid...

Tony Sarno is into just about anything you can think of, but because the police found an email that had porn photos attached, they were able to take him in as well. The important part of this is that we meet three other characters--a volunteer public defender and an ADA who become involved with the kidnapping case... And a possible corrupt judge...

This is an exceptionally well-written suspense novel that moves directly into child abduction, pornography and trafficking, with the emphasis on solving the crimes... But also honing in on the potential criminal activities that are kept secret...by people you might pass in the mall or on the street... daily... 

Highly recommended for mystery lovers! Enjoy!


GABixlerReviews

About the author: 
Thomas Hall was born on Long Island, New York and would later move to Massachusetts. After graduating high school he received a full athletic scholarship to Northeastern University where he would receive his Bachelor and Master Degrees. As a former English teacher and principal, with over thirty-five years in the academia field, Mr. Hall has since retired and is now able to devote his time and extensive skill set to his passion—writing. He and his wife Marcia live in Central Massachusetts and have three adult children.

Shout Out for Daniel Palmer's Next Book! Giveaway Too!

"It was my editor, John, who suggested
that I write about sexting. The idea
immediately intrigued me as I'm attracted
to stories that explore the hidden dangers
of commonly used technologies..."

Helpless 
This title will be released on January 31, 2012. Pre-Orders accepted Now!


By Daniel Palmer


Disturbing...
     Provocative...
          Compelling...
               Powerful...








In my opinion, almost nothing is worse than losing control of your own life! We feel...Helpless...don't we?

All of us have benefited from the technological advancements made; however, with those improvements comes the dangers to which all of us are now susceptible.  Lindsey Wells never thought she would do what she was about to do. Her love was the reason--that, and wanting to ensure she had a date for the prom! Besides it was just between her and Tanner, her boyfriend, and it wasn't as if they were going to really be intimate...Still, "Her racing heart knew she was crossing a line she'd never crossed before" ...As her boyfriend seduced her and asked her to send him a picture, Lindsey, one by one, took pictures of herself, each one revealing more and more...

When the FBI later contacted her about those very pictures, she, and the many other teenage girls first would deny that they had shared them with anybody... Now they knew that those same pictures could be all over the Internet. But, it only got worse... "Lindsey, known for her cheerfulness, enviable GPA, and deft tackling skills on the soccer field" was soon said to be involved with Tom Hawkins, her soccer coach at Shilo High School..

Tom Hawkins, fortunately, was a former seal and had been trained to deal with any situation--except for being falsely accused! Tom had both Lindsey and his own daughter on the soccer team he coached. For him, being able to be near Jill was wonderful since his ex-wife had done everything possible to discredit him in Jill's eyes.

Then his ex was found dead--murdered. And he was immediately the prime suspect, especially since the town cop had been an old school enemy and wasn't interested in looking any further. Tom, however, had seen a man behind their home, who had recently been released from jail. Tom realized that this man could have killed his wife--but he also knew that naming him might reveal a secret from Tom's past when he had still been in the military service.

"Of the forty girls in what Rainy dubbed James Mann's
Text Image Collection, ten of them (according to the school
superintendent) attended or had recently graduated from
Shilo High School. Each girl had taken an image of herself
in some stage of undress. And somehow, those images
ended up on James Mann's office computer."
Note: a Federal child pornographic case against Mann
 is what led to the FBI becoming involved at Shilo High.

Trying to heal and develop a better relationship with Jill since he was now her legal guardian had already been difficult. Jill had chosen to live with her best friend Lindsey and her mother rather than with him while the investigation was going on. Now, however, her father was being accused. all on the Internet, of having a relationship with one of the girls on the soccer team. When Lindsey was then named as that individual, all three were shocked and, within their discussions, even the FBI special agent involved began to question what was happening. Perhaps that was what led to the more intensive search to prove that Tom Hawkins was being accused, but set up--for murder, for sexual abuse and, finally, for possession and trafficking of child pornography!

Daniel Palmer has looked at the terrible, serious crimes that are constantly in today's headlines--the issue of child pornography, sexual abuse, etc., and turning the table, asks readers to consider what happens when the innocent are unfairly accused. Needless to say, most often results in the accused immediately being judged guilty. By providing Tom Hawkins, the main character who is accused, with his specific training and background, Palmer provided a tremendous thriller that is both edgy and exciting in his efforts to clear his name. I was thankful that  he also, though, did "not" provide him with exceptional computer skills, so that readers realized that he had no understanding of how any of what was happening was being done. More like the majority of us who know only enough to use our computer to better perform the routine daily activities that can now be speedily accomplished online.

Palmer indicated that he wanted to make the hidden dangers of today's technologies scary...scary enough to help teenagers realize that what they text or post online will: go on in perpetuity...when they are in college... when they are married...long after they have children of their own... This, he thought was very scary.

Palmer's novel, Helpless, has fully fulfilled his goal. This book is scary--very, very scary! It's scary because young children and adults do not see the "potential" danger. They see only the fun, the connectivity, and, sometimes, the tempting pleasure of private, intimate sexting...It's amazingly illustrative that murder occurred, that drugs had been involved...and those terrible crimes paled in comparison to what was happening to the lives of. all the innocent people... caught in the hidden dangers of those technologies we use every day of our lives!

I consider this more than a must-read. Parents, please provide a copy to your teenagers and allow them the opportunity to read and discuss the book. At a minimum, learn about those hidden dangers and work to create the environment within your home where those dangers are efficiently and effectively addressed!

You'll be sorry if you miss this one, maybe in a very sad way...

Daniel Palmer--An exciting author who forces us to confront the bad as well as the good of technology! With just two novels published, he's now a must-read author for me and I'm already looking forward to his next book!


GABixlerReviews

"Home networks were often the most vulnerable to hackers.
Without proper security in place, it was relatively easy to
hijack those signals. It would explain why Lindsey was
unaware of the Tumblr account. Somebody could have been
parked on the street using the Wellses' Wi-Fi signal to make
those pages and exchange messages. Probably the same
person who created the bogus Facebook profile to accelerate
the spread of the rumor...
"Daddy, it's me," Lindsey said into the phone. "Did you ever
put a password or anything on our wireless network?"

Author Daniel Palmer has authorized using his Advance Uncorrected Proof (Signed!) as a Giveaway! The winner will be selected randomly based upon (1) being a follower of this blog and (2) adding a comment about this review/the book/the author! Please include an email address to be contacted if you win!