Keep Her Close

A Gripping Psychological Thriller with Edge-of-Your-Seat Suspense

By: Erik Therme

Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez

Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

Someone took your daughter. And nobody believes you....

Then: Three-year-old Ally was found alone in a parking lot. She was barefoot and dressed only in a yellow sundress. In the middle of winter. What kind of person would abandon their daughter?

Now: Fifteen years later and Ally has a new family. But her real father has sent her a letter. And now, Ally is missing.  

A gripping, twist-filled thriller that will have you looking over your shoulder. Perfect for fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, and Teresa Driscoll. 

©2018 Erik Therme (P)2018 Bookouture

Critic Reviews

"The author had me totally engrossed.... There are so many twists and turns throughout that had me totally glued to what was happening within the pages.... The author very cleverly messes with your head.... Without a doubt, my favourite novel by this author. There was tons of suspense that builds up to a more than satisfying climax. An absolute page turner of a read!" (bytheletterbookreviews)

"Had my heart pounding with anticipation.... A fast-paced action-packed journey that homes in on parental love and the depths you’d resort to finding your daughter.... An intense story.... One of those novels that by the time you get to the end, it really makes you think about what you thought you knew about the beginning. It’s very clever and certainly ends with a satisfactory bang!" (NowFiction) 

Quickly became implausible and confusing

I really didn’t want to finish this book but I powered through the book anyway...and the story did not crash and burn — it would’ve had to be a strong enough story in the first place to be able to contrast it to a crash. The story was more like an enormous bunch of different colored helium balloons that randomly get released up into the air as you take a leisurely stroll, then you come across a dead end... and although you know you should turn around, you don’t — you just slowly circle it a few times then release the remaining bunch of balloons at the same time into the air and they disperse in all different directions, at different speeds. Some of the balloons don’t even fly away and they just hover and bob near the ground until they pop.

This book seemed to have potential at the very beginning, maybe in the first few minutes. The plot becomes implausible very quickly. Then the story gets so convoluted and too many characters are being introduced (all with similar sounding names: Allie, Ellie, maddy, holly, Lilly) with scant personality development and details — there was a bit of backstory here and there was but it really didn’t contribute overall.

The story gradually veered into something totally unrelated to what the summary advertised, so just forget about what you read about the book. It’s told through the perspective of Allie’s parents, Dan and Holly and Cal— Allie’s co-worker from the coffee shop she works at. There were far too many instances where I was just plain confused about what was going on and what was/wasn’t relevant. To top it off, Allie is sooooo ignorant it was excruciatingly painful to listen to anything she was involved in. If my review so far sounds confusing, it’s because the book was such a jumble.

Here is an example conversation (not the actual dialogue) Allie has with a stranger pretending to be a long lost relative:

Allie: do you know Bob and Carol?
Woman: of course I know Bob and Carol! They’re just so great (this woman does not know them)
Allie: I don’t know much about Carol before she moved here, I’d love to learn more about her or any stories you remember about her.
Woman: ohh... well Carol like I said is just so great...and we were best friends and we went to school together in... in..Ohio....and when we were both little girls we played in the park. Carol also ate food everyday.
Allie: oh wow (in total awe)! that’s so cool you know Carol soooo well!
Woman: so anyway, since we clearly have established common friends, you can trust me and come with to do something that may be sketchy, but I promise I will let you leave right after we are done.
[then events occur and turns out the woman was so obviously lying, and even said as much. but...Allie just can’t figure out what’s going on]
Allie: I want to leave now.
Woman: no you cannot leave until I say so.
Allie: but you promised I could leave right after!
Woman: um ya... I was lying, so just sit there and do what I say.
Allie: But you said you and Carol were best friends!?
Woman: omg I was LYING ALLIE. So just get over it and do what I tell you to.
Allie: But...But...you went to school with Carol!?
Woman: how slow are you...NOTHING I told you is true. Nothing.
Allie: But what about Ohio???
Woman: (exasperated) wow. you really are something else.

Ok that wasn’t the best example, I know LOL, I just wanted to exemplify the tone and And of course I know the author was probably trying to make her seem naive, but in my opinion and perception, it wasn’t the right approach— instead she just came off as irritating, annoying and hard to like. But I just had to provide an example of how weak the dialogue was and how difficult it was to identify with any of the characters. I could’ve stopped the book at anytime and not have finished it and I would’ve been content and never give it another thought ever again — but I really wanted to see exactly how the author was going to attempt to wrap the story up.

I would love to read reviews of those who found this book riveting, perhaps I missed something crucial that confused me enough to misinterpret the story.

this book has the worst ending ever.

This story was okay (yes, just okay) but I won't buy more from this author and risk getting through the whole story, only to have another dumb ending.

Great Fast Paced Read

This is a fantastic book from Erik Therme. All of his books are well written and keep your attention from the start. I personally think this is his best work to date and I highly recommend it. Not sure why other reviewers refer to the story as implausible, it is a fiction and has elements that are not every day, but nothing that goes outside of the bounds of plausibility.

I also personally loved the ending.

A good, well-crafted read.

A good, well-crafted read. A suspenseful family drama that will draw you in! Give this book a listen.

I stopped listening

After seeing this in my suggestions for months, I finally decided to buy it. I should’ve listened to the sample as I didn’t enjoy the performance at all. Too over the top. The story is also very strange!

Disappointing

I kept waiting for it to get better, it didn't happen. A lot of insignificant dialogue and scenes