The Trunk Key

By: Carolyn Nash

Narrated by: Ilyana Kadushin

On her way to work, for one terrifying instant Jennifer Canfield sees a tiny hand in the trunk of a car that barely misses slamming into her van. A doll? A child? With no time to think she must act and so begins a non-stop, breathlessly suspenseful journey to find the truth and possibly save a life. Stephen Baron, a road construction worker, joins her in her pursuit of a possible kidnapper through the hills of California. And where the chase ends reveals exactly how courage and love can show up when we least expect them and change everything.

From Leland Dirks, author of "Angelo's Journey" and "Seven Dogs in Heaven"...

Listening to her heart, against the advice of her brain, Jen takes off on an adventurous chase on California backroads where more than the story of the chase is hidden.

Ms. Nash masterfully sets the stage, sculpts believable characters, and sets them free to discover whether their heads or their hearts are more reliable allies in this fight between good and evil. Your heart wants you to read this book. Before you've turned listened very long, your brain will be glad, too.

©2012 Carolyn Nash (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

A Stunner (in a Good Way)

Wow! There's a LOT packed into three and a half hours. In the beginning I was wondering: Is this woman sane? Is she a mental case? I was absolutely so relieved when it got to the point that I was certain that there WAS a child in the trunk. And then picking up the road worker! Ugh! This is one of the most artfully written stories EVER. It has some bad language . . . not terrible language . . . I'd venture to say that worse would be coming out of my mouth if I were in her shoes. I was rooting for Jennifer Canfield like crazy . . . for the little girl . . . for Stephen Baron. The abductor was super human, worst of the worst . . . and yet this woman, Jennifer kept fighting. And as the story completely unfolded, you learned why. Wow! Now I'm out to find some more by this author. I usually do not like or appreciate snarky humor, but it is EXACTLY right in this book. Way to go!

Good Solid Suspense Story

So this audio book is priced at $2.09 and at a little over 3 1/2 hours I figured why not! I'm glad I took a chance, good audio quality, fantastic narrator, and a solid story, can't quite figure out why its in the romance section, because it really is a suspense novella. go ahead a buy it if your looking for a good short story that really feels like a novel, because the writer Carolyn Nash is so descriptive. Keep on writing Carolyn, I'll look for more from you!

Humanity. Emotional. Strength.

I'm a very picky listener/reader when it comes to books. The very first thing to me is the narrators voice. If the voice isn't to my liking, the listening stops right there. Second I give the author a maximum of 1 minute to capture my interest. So needless to say, I was quite pleased by this book.

The very beginning made me laugh because I can relate to the phone, earbuds and doughnuts!

It's funny, sad, thought provoking. It is relatable. It made me wish there were more people like this.

A very good listen!

Great Bargain

I thought why not when I saw this selection listed. it's price 1.95 made it worth the chance. It certainly was. Jennifer Canfield is in traffic headed for work when she sees the hand of a child extended from the trunk of an old beater. Impulsively she follows the vehicle and the adventure begins. Jennifer; a victim of sexual abuse as a child compulsively follows the car through the city onto the highway and into the mountains. Going through a construction zone a highway worker named Stephen joins her and they continue the chase together. The chase leads to more than one confrontation with the kidnapper. The ending of this novella is ambiguous and leaves open the chance for a typical romance novel to follow.

Short, predictable

Not much substance in this short novel with a predictable outcome. Narration wasn’t great either.

Great main character

I loved this main character. Perhaps I found her more compelling than some other readers might, because I’m also an adoptive and foster parent, and because I can see myself doing the same thing Jenny did. She really resonated with me, and I celebrated her growing realization of how tough and resilient she is.

This worked well as a novella, because the shorter length kept the focus on the action. The plot moved crisply, without getting bogged down.

Despite its short length, the action, setting, and main character were all richly described. The only aspect I found lacking was in the character of the supporting character. I would have liked more information about who he is, beyond being a “nice guy” who appears to be comfortable with feminism. Does he have children? Does he want kids? What does he like to do in his spare time?!

That said, I’d still recommend this highly.