Stolen Children Review

Stolen Children
By Peg Kehret
Publisher: Dutton Children’s Books
Cost: $16.99
Number of Pages: 165
Publication Date: October 16, 2008
Age Suggestion: 9-13
Rating: 6/10

Amy wasn’t expecting to encounter two armed men while babysitting a 3-year old. When the men kidnap Kendra she tries to stop them, only to be kidnapped herself. Forced to appear in DVDs sent to their families, Amy realizes that she’s running out of time. Desperate, she attempts to send clues the only way she can—through the DVDs. Amy discretely manages to send hints of the kidnappers’ location through the videos. While Amy’s family and friends try to crack the clues, Amy hatches plan after plan to escape. After a frustrating number of failed attempts, Amy does the last thing she had in mind in order to escape.

Stolen Children is a suspenseful thriller that will keep the reader at the edge of their chair until the end. It moves quite quickly without being wordy or overly descriptive. The characters are well developed for such a short novel. The plot twists with the clues definitely made the book more interesting. Sadly, many of the events in the book are either predictable or highly unrealistic. While it’s understandable why the author might have chosen not to include much violence in a teen’s novel, the civility the kidnappers show to Amy is laughable. No kidnapper in his right mind would let their victim go outside alone. No sane kidnapper would leave his gun sitting on a shelf. Though the book manages to enthrall the reader, it fails to be a fairly realistic novel.