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Book Review of The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore

The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore
robinmy avatar reviewed on + 2118 more book reviews


Teenager Christina Lattimore has just arrived home when a masked man steps out in front of her. She is then grabbed from behind and drugged. Christina wakes up in a locked basement. She doesn't know who would kidnap her, but when a masked man asks her to sign a ransom note addressed to her grandmother, she does as he demands. Within days, her family has paid the ransom and she is back home. But that isn't the end of her ordeal. The police believe she orchestrated the whole thing. Now Christina has to clear her own name.

This is a young adult book that I picked up at a library sale. The backblurb sounded interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try. I had some problems with this book. First, I found the writing was just so-so. The story is told in the first-person POV. Christina's thoughts were all over the place. I don't remember teens having such a hard time concentrating on a problem (ex. did someone break into my house?), and then suddenly start thinking about what color eye shadow they would wear the next day. I also found the story lacked suspense. Maybe that was because I figured out who the kidnappers were BEFORE Christina was even kidnapped. I also thought the heroine had too many TSTL moments. Sure, she's a teenager. But she failed to engage her brain over and over. I did like that Christina used initiative to solve the case, but it came way too late in the book for me. My rating: 2 Stars.