Child Kidnapping

Not a day has gone by that Michael Whitman hasn’t thought about his ten-year-old daughter, Katie, disappearing from an amusement park in their small Midwest city. One moment she was there, waiting on a bench, and then she was gone, shattering Michael’s life. Now it is seven years later and it seems as if everyone has moved past Katie’s disappearance...except for Michael. Estranged from the rest of his family, he still holds onto the guilt of losing Katie and the hope that she might still be alive. And so when Michael receives an impossible text message involving his missing daughter, ...

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY GIRL IN THE PICTURE Sharon Marshall was a brilliant and beautiful student whose future was filled with promise—until her murderous, fugitive father drew her into a lifetime of deception that became one of the most baffling cases in the annals of...

To the people of Great Falls, Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was just another friendly face. He attended church, hosted barbecues, and was a neighbour you could trust. But inside his freezer were secrets far darker than anyone imagined. Children disappeared. Rumours spread. And when the truth began to thaw, investigators uncovered something unspeakable – recipes that didn’t name the meat, bones buried in the yard, and stories of a man consumed with control who indulged every urge.

Appie Knoll is the kind of suburb where kids grow up right. But something is wrong. Fourteen-year-old Kevin Bartlett disappears. Everyone thinks he's run away -- until the comic strip ransom note arrives. It doesn't take Spenser long to get the picture -- an affluent family seething with rage, a...

Paced like a thriller and full of insider information, this book embeds readers in one of the most famous true-crime stories of our generation—the kidnapping of Polly Klaas. On October 1, 1993, a 12-year-old girl was kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom in Petaluma, California, during a...

Tom Rob Smith-the author whose debut, Child 44, has been called "brilliant" (Chicago Tribune), "remarkable" (Newsweek) and "sensational" (Entertainment Weekly)-returns with an intense, suspenseful new novel: a story where the sins of the past threaten to destroy the present, where families must...

A gripping domestic thriller about the dark side of social media fame Becca Hart has it all: 1.2 million Instagram followers, lucrative brand deals, and a picture-perfect family. Every strawberry-picking trip, every bedtime routine, every milestone is content—and her daughter Emma is the star. But Emma doesn't want to smile anymore. Her cheeks hurt. The "phone people" are always watching. Then, during a livestream at a local farm, Emma vanishes. One moment she's holding her brother's hand. The next, she's gone—and nearly ten thousand people watched it happen in real time. As the ...

I was born and broken in Birkenhead, abused from infancy by a network of every kind of pervert from ‘thinks it’s love’ to ‘show it hurts’. I was unwanted, beaten, sold, swapped, photographed, filmed, left for dead, corrupted, blamed, betrayed, ignored and orphaned. But I was also born with a fire inside me. I call it my Phoenix Fire. I am no victim—that word only describes what happened to me. Nor am I a survivor because that implies I am over it. I am a Phoenix—a work in progress. This is my story....

When the past whispers secrets, two strangers must listen to save the future. Immerse yourself in a gripping thriller where historian Angus Cunningham and Detective Jackie Moralez join forces to unravel a sinister mystery. Two teenagers disappear from the state fair, leading to a harrowing investigation into a centuries-old ritual sacrifice plot. Experience the rush as Angus’s deep historical insights and Jackie’s intense police work collide, racing against time to save the victims from a dark fate. Brace yourself for a whirlwind of suspense and unexpected twists.

The Child Taker In a chilling tale drawn from the haunting realities of high-profile child abductions, The Child Taker immerses readers in a desperate race against time. Five-year-old twins vanish from their tent in the serene Lake District, thrusting their family into a nightmare and sparking a frenetic hunt for a sinister paedophile ring. With police protocol dictating that 60% of abducted children are murdered within the first four hours—an hour they refer to as the "golden hour"—every second counts. As the investigation intensifies, the clock ticks mercilessly, plunging detectives ...

Between 1950 and 1970, the Vatican and the American Catholic Church sent nearly four thousand Italian children to the United States for adoption into “good” Catholic homes. With the religious stigma of unwed motherhood turning families against daughters and a Church and State wanting “illegitimate” children sent abroad, mothers were lied to, given forms to sign that they didn’t understand, or even told their baby had died, all to further supply this international adoption pipeline.

What would you do if your dead sister sent you postcards? I've struggled to get my life back on track after a lifetime of despair, addiction, and loss. I finally have it all. A bustling business, a home, my health, and time with my beloved daughter Sophie. But that tenuous balance is tipped when my twin Jane's postcard arrives in the mail. My family thinks she's dead. They want to put it all behind them. But how can I agree when the evidence is right in front of me? When my nagging little sister provokes my rebellious teenager to run away, I am forced to confront the past I've wanted to ...

Two years ago, Beth Farrow turned her back on her three-year-old niece, Jenna, for just a few seconds. She disappeared without a trace. How does a three-year-old go missing from a crowded summer fete without anyone noticing? When Beth leaves the country to try and escape her guilt, someone sends her a photograph from an anonymous number. It's a photograph of Jenna. She's older, but Beth is sure it's her niece. She is determined to do what the police cannot: Find Jenna and bring her home. But someone isn't pleased when Beth returns.

A worn-out veteran forged by a dark past is unwanted until an enemy comes home. Heavily scarred with a voice like broken glass, society has cast Frank Kane aside. A worn-out relic of forgotten wars. He's okay with that. He never liked people much anyway. Renovating a dilapidated lighthouse, he finds peace fixing a broken thing. Hard work. Honest work. The men who kidnapped his niece should have left the sleeping dog lie. Their actions forced Frank to return to his old ways. Unknowingly, they awakened something terrible – a relentless architect of pain who will stop at nothing to find ...

In The CLOSET, ten-year-old Annie Rowan is lured away from a small-town fair by a cunning and bizarre loner with a dark obsession. Annie’s father Will, a Methodist minister, still grieving the unsolved murder of her mother, is devastated. Who took her? Why? Was her taking random, or was she an intended target? Baffled from the start, the police seem to be getting nowhere. In a race against time, Will digs into the past on his own to discover the kidnapper’s true identity while Annie is forced to star in an unthinkable role. It’s a deadly play that challenges the young pastor’s faith...

Claire is a wife, a mother, a grandmother. Her only daughter is gravely ill. Her son-in-law is resentful and angry. Now her grandchildren are missing. From BETTE LEE CROSBY, an award-winning author of women's fiction and family sagas, comes this USA TODAY Bestseller that is a heart-wrenching reminder of how fragile relationships can be! Winner Reader’s Favorite Gold Medal, Royal Palm Literary Award and FPA President’s Book Award Gold Medal After years of writing letters, hoping to find the children, hoping to bring them back, Claire receives a reply…a dog-eared gray envelope is ...

Based on a true story, The Forgotten Child is a heart-breaking memoir of an abandoned newborn baby left to die, his tempestuous upbringing, and how he came through the other side. It’s a freezing winter’s night in 1954. A baby boy, a few hours old, is left by his mother, wrapped in nothing...

A sinister secret lies buried—one that swallows two young teens into an abyss of mystery. When two young teens at a county fair are drawn to desperate cries emanating from the House of Horrors, their world spins into chaos. They never enter, but suddenly, they're gone—vanished into thin air. Thus begins a baffling mystery into which rookie detective Teresa Simmonds and veteran Allan Yeats are thrown headfirst into a maze of secrets and lies. As they unravel the web of secrets and cover-ups, the question haunts them: What happened to Yasmine and Jerry, and why does no one want the truth ...

Jess McAdams dotes on her four children and gives advice and suggestions to parents all around the world. No one would ever question her love and devotion to her children, let alone suspect her of murdering one. But Alex Mercer does. Alex has plenty of experience investigating crimes involving missing kids. So when he senses something is wrong, he trusts his instincts. The only problem is, he's a newly deputized officer of the law. If he's wrong about Jess, he'll destroy his career before it gets off the ground.  

Retired and relaxing at the pool on a hot, sunny Texas afternoon was the perfect way to start summer early. Life was perfect. So they thought. Clark and his wife, Jamie, are the proud parents of two adopted girls. Clark is a Christian who became a believer in adulthood. His faith has been his guide and was the foundation of how he and his wife raised the children. Life was perfect. Suddenly, life was not perfect. In fact, Clark and Jamie lived Job’s life from the Old Testament. It seemed as if everything around them was being taken from them. Life was no longer perfect.