The Missing

By: Chris Mooney

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Darby McCormick had known Melanie Cruz and Stacey Stephens forever. Best friends since childhood, the threesome had survived high school together. But one night in the woods, drinking beers to celebrate Melanie's 16th birthday, the three unsuspecting teenagers witnessed the grisly murder of a woman. Darby and her friends fled the scene, but they left behind a clue to their whereabouts, which only simplified the killer's revenge. It didn't take long to find them. This time, only Darby survived.

Twenty-five years later, Darby is a crime-scene investigator for the Boston Police Department. When a young woman is abducted from her home in the middle of the night, Darby finds an unexpected witness: a woman dressed in rags hiding behind garbage cans kept underneath the back porch of the victim's house. The woman is dangerously malnourished and is so distraught, so terrified, she believes she is still locked inside a dark prison cell, and that Darby is one of her fellow prisoners.

Darby's investigation reveals that the woman, Rachel Swanson, has been missing for more than five years. And there are others. As Darby tries to get Rachel to talk about the other missing women and the horrors she endured, the killer known as Traveler is brought to light. As the race to find him heats up, Darby finds herself trying to unravel forensic clues about the case while attempting to uncover the existence of a killer who has eluded the police and FBI for more than two decades. A killer who, years ago, introduced Darby to violence and death. A killer who will use every means necessary to protect himself and to keep the missing women from ever being found.

A breathless, gripping read from beginning to end, The Missing is an unforgettable story about a courageous woman whose past has literally come back to haunt her. Told with tremendous style at a breakneck pace, this is thriller writing at its best.

©2007 Chris Mooney (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"I devoured The Missing in one greedy, breathless sitting. This is a scary, breakneck ride with thrills that never let up." (Tess Gerritsen)
"The Missing is the season's most unrelenting thriller. It will keep readers enthralled from its gripping opening chapters to its last shocking page." (George Pelecanos)
"The Missing is an absolutely gripping mix of suspense and mystery. Chris Mooney is a wonderful writer and in his hands this story is compelling, thrilling, and touching." (Michael Connelly)

I liked it a lot!

The narrating was very good, and the story kept me intersted all the way through.....

Pins and Needles All the Way!

I like looking to see what books others have enjoyed - nothing's worse than buying a book that makes you want to throw it through the window. This book is a great case for reading reviews. Like others, I found Missing to be 100% entertaining. The characters are multi faceted and the suspense frequently bone chilling. Kept me absorbed from beginning to end. The ending was an unexpected and absorbing surprise. If you like suspense this is definitely worth the time ... and the money.

What a twist

I wasn't expecting it. It was a great twisty plot. I enjoyed it.

decent

If you read alot of mysteries and thrillers, you will likely know who the villian is relatively early on. Oddly enough, that fact did not ruin the book for me. There was enough interest along the way to stay with it and I was happy to find that there was an unexpected twist at the end.

Great book

This book was great. It is full of twist and turns. I couldn't put it down

Well Written, Well Read

I was looking for a tidy little thriller for entertainment and found a gem. It's a fast paced listen and, while I guessed the "bad guy" fairly early on, it still had plenty of twists and turns that made it entertaining to the very end. I particularly liked that there was a minimum of "soap opera" tangents into the personal lives of the characters.

I was disappointed that there are no other Chris Mooney titles to go to next but when there are, I'll be giving them a listen too.

Pleasantly Surprised

I'd never seen anything by this author, but wanted something relatively short and interesting. I found this book to be one of those I couldn't put down. Even though I had guessed who the bad guy was, it did not take away from this book at all. I especially liked the fact that I was able to be surprised by the ending! I will be looking for the next book by this author, and adding the name to my list of favorites.

Nothing missing form this book!!!

Great suspense novel in every way!! Great plot, characters, increasing suspense, and well thought out ending. I look for great things in the future for this author. Narrator also does an excellent job as well. In my top 20 in the genre. (I have over 300 audible listens).

Great Book!

Listen to this audio once ..had to listen to it again! Will keep you interested with it's twist and turns, Loved the narrator!

Grabs you in the first 5 minutes. So Creepy!!!

Where does The Missing rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I stumbled on this series by accident. One of the best I've read in awhile.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Big Time!!!! It kept me guessing the whole time.

What about Bernadette Dunne’s performance did you like?

She was fantastic!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Some secrets are best left unsaid.