Gone

Gone is a spellbinding novel about a mother and son who have been abducted at a gas station. The son is only four-years-old and has a severe form of epilepsy and autism. His mother Elizabeth manages his illness well while her husband is gone weekdays and night. She is a creature of habit, puts gas in the car on Monday, picks up prescriptions on Tuesday, etc... Her habits should make it easier for her husband to search for her. On one Monday morning, Elizabeth is buying gas for her car and has left her son in the passenger seat while she pays for the gas. While she is at the cash register she sees a man approach her car and get in. Elizabeth hurries to the car and is able to jump into the backseat as the car takes off, leaving her purse behind. The driver takes her to a hidden cabin in the woods where Elizabeth's husband will never find her. It is up to Elizabeth to figure out how to get herself and her son free. 

This psychological thriller kept me reading all night. The serious nature of the child's medical needs not being met after the abduction give the novel its suspense. The restricted life a person with epilepsy has is shown in detail and it is this circumstance that keeps the reader reading. I found myself routing for the boy and hoped he survived. I did not like his mother though. She was dependent on her husband for everything and got angry when he wasn't around to tell her what to do. She seemed whiny to me. As a feminist I wanted to shake her out of this mindset to freedom. It was odd that she only thought her husband would search for her, not the police. Doesn't everyone know that it is the police's job to look for missing people? Also, I wondered why she thought she couldn't handle her situation. Elizabeth did not really need her husband to help her care for her son. She did this almost daily on her own and was handling the abduction well.

Despite these concerns Gone is a mesmerizing story and I highly recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars.