From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Screenwriter Levien's debut crackles with raw intensity as it hurtles from a placid Indianapolis suburb to a dingy Mexican outpost. Paul and Carol Gabriel are devastated when their 12-year-old son, Jamie, disappears on his paper delivery route one morning. Fourteen months later and with the police no closer to finding Jamie, they hire PI Frank Behr, an imposing ex-cop with a checkered past. Behr soon discovers that Jamie's disappearance was no random grab but part of a larger operation run by Riggi, a real estate tycoon who deals in everything from drugs to stolen children. Reluctantly allowing Paul to accompany him, Behr tracks Riggi's men to Mexico, where he and Paul discover the true extent of Riggi's depravity as they race against the clock to find Jamie. Levien expertly weaves a subplot involving the tragic death of Behr's own young son into the complex kidnapping story, and the moments shared between the two grieving fathers are heartbreaking. Fans of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch will be particularly delighted. (Mar.)
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Review
โLevien is the new mustโread thriller writer.โ -Lee ChildโRelentless suspense.โ โHarlan CobenโIt doesn't get any more intense than this.โ โThe Free Lance-StarโOne of the toughest, most gut-wrenching, and most believable suspense novels I've ever encountered. If David Levien pulled any punches, I was too dazed to notice.โ โLincoln ChildโTop-shelf suspense writingโฆ. [Imagined] with icyโฆprecision.โ โEntertainment WeeklyโA nerve-jangling novel that places ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.โ โUSA Today