Author Shares Story of Love, Death, and Abduction in a Small Town
Katie Stone felt all alone. At the same time, however, she never felt alone. Katie was constantly checking over her shoulder in fear, a perpetual and eerie feeling that someone was watching or following her. Unfortunately, no one would believe her.
In Fatal Kidnapping, Tracy B. Evans’ new book of love, death, and abduction in a small town, the refusal to believe Katie turns into disbelief when, suddenly, Katie disappears. When Katie’s father, Jed, does not hear from her and neither he nor Katie’s fiancé, Caleb, can find her, Jed contacts his close friend and the town’s sheriff, Jack Day. Sheriff Day is clueless when it comes to conducting a search for a missing person, as he has never had to deal with any major crimes in such a small town. He eventually calls together a group of people from the town to meet him at the police station and begins the search for Katie.
As the townspeople look high and low for the missing girl, the search begins to seem pointless. They find nothing to aid them in the investigation, and no sign of Katie. Caleb fears that Katie has left town because she has decided that she does not want to marry him after all. Then, suddenly, a few days later, Katie is discovered. She is bruised and battered, but she is alive.
Katie begins to tell Sheriff Day what happened to her during the time she was gone, but Sheriff Day is immediately frustrated and confused. Why is she beginning her statement with details about her childhood? Katie tells him he must listen to the whole story or he will never believe her. Wanting to get to the bottom of things, Sheriff Day agrees, and he can not believe what he learns next. When Katie is finished, Sheriff Day believes he has discovered the truth behind her kidnapping. But has he really, and will the truth ever truly be revealed? Katie is adamant that the statement she has given is correct, but how can the kidnapper be a man who has been dead for years?
"Fatal Kidnapping" tells, from three different perspectives, the story of Katie Stone's kidnapping and subsequent escape. We see it first from her father's and boyfriend's side, then we hear Katie tell the story to the sherrif, and then we find out "the truth".
Evans writes in simple, short sentences. She uses a minimalist style, and it reads as if the narrator is reciting the story in a gentle, repetitive cadence. She tends to avoid (or at least to dampen down) the conflicts in her scenes, focusing more on the current interactions of the characters, and telling about their past reactions to major crises in their lives.
Katie Stone and her surrounding characters are from a simple and rural life. I enjoyed the glimpses into this life, espeially around how Katie and her family handled the process of dying (several people have lingering illnesses).
Without giving away the ending, I will say that Evans surprised me with her glimpse into a person's dark and overly-practical side. She did a nice job of gently leading up to the surprise without revealing it too soon.
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