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Published Feb 2015
272 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
While his successful wife goes off to her law office each day, Simon Connolly takes care of their kids, Jake and Laney. Now that they are in high school, the angst-ridden father should feel more relaxed, but he doesn't. He's seen the statistics, read the headlines. And now, his darkest fear is coming true. There has been a shooting at school.
Simon races to the rendezvous point, where he's forced to wait. Do they know who did it? How many victims were there? Why did this happen? One by one, parents are led out of the room to reunite with their children. Their numbers dwindle, until Simon is alone.
As his worst nightmare unfolds, and Jake is the only child missing, Simon begins to obsess over the past, searching for answers, for hope, for the memory of the boy he raised, for mistakes he must have made, for the reason everything came to this. Where is Jake? What happened in those final moments? Is it possible he doesn't really know his son? Or he knows him better than he thought?
Brilliantly paced, Finding Jake explores these questions in a tense and emotionally wrenching narrative. Harrowing and heartbreaking, surprisingly healing and redemptive, it is a story of faith and conviction, strength, courage, and love that will leave readers questioning their own lives, and those they think they know.
"Reardon deftly builds suspense by setting his dual story lines on a collision course toward a shattering - and surprising - conclusion." - Publishers Weekly
"A compelling read; disturbingly relevant in contemporary America. " - Kirkus
"Reardon, a freelance writer specializing in medical communications, beautifully captures the parental second-guessing that is magnified in times of crisis." - Booklist
"Finding Jake is compelling psychological suspense - but also so much more. A journey into the depths of a parent's worst nightmare, it is at turns heartbreaking, surprising, devastating, hopeful... I'll be thinking about this one for a long time to come." - Alison Gaylin, USA Today bestselling author of Stay With Me
"The tension is almost unbearable in this thriller-cum-character study as layer after layer of a father's soul are revealed as reflected in the character of his missing son. Utterly engrossing." - Alice LaPlante, bestselling author of Turn of Mind and Circle of Wives
Finding Jake is truly compelling. I read it in one sitting, tearing through the pages right to the unexpected ending - which stayed with me for days. - Paula Daly, author of Keep Your Friends Close
This information about Finding Jake was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Bryan Reardon is a freelance writer specializing in medical communications. He co-wrote Ready, Set, Play with retired NFL player and ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth and Cruel Harvest. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Bryan worked for the State of Delaware for over a decade, starting in the Office of the Governor. He holds a BA in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and lives in West Chester, Pennsylvania, with his wife, kids, and rescue dog, Simon.
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