Down the darkest road

Select an Action

Title:

Down the darkest road

Author:

Hoag, Tami, author.

Series:

Oak knoll ;

Series Number:

Summary:

Lauren Lawton and her younger daughter Leah pick up and move to Oak Knoll four years after the unsolved disappearance of her oldest daughter, but when the man Lauren suspects of taking her child shows up in their new home town, the detectives start to uncover new clues.

Audience:

Adult Follett Library Resources

Physical Description:

viii, 431 p. ; 24 cm.

Genre:

Thrillers (Fiction)

Detective and mystery fiction.

Subject Term:

Abduction -- Fiction.

Missing persons -- Fiction.

Children -- Crimes against -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Santa Barbara (Calif.) -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Dutton,

Publication Date:

2012

ISBN:

9780525952398

Publication Information:

New York : Dutton, c2012.

Call Number:

HOAG

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607002602947	Adult Fiction	HOAG	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Once upon a time I had the perfect family. I had the perfect husband. I had the perfect children. I had the perfect life in the perfect home. And then, as in all fairy tales, evil came into our lives and destroyed us.

Four years after the unsolved disappearance of her sixteen-year-old daughter, Lauren Lawton is the only one still chasing the ghosts of her perfect Santa Barbara life. The world has given her daughter up for dead. Her husband ended his own life in the aftermath. Even Lauren's younger daughter is desperate to find what's left of the childhood she hasn't been allowed to have.

Lauren knows exactly who took her oldest child, but there is not a shred of evidence against the man. Even as he stalks her family, Lauren is powerless to stop him. The Santa Barbara police are handcuffed by the very laws they are sworn to uphold. Looking for a fresh start in a town with no memories, Lauren and her younger daughter, Leah, move to idyllic Oak Knoll. But when Lauren's suspect turns up in the same city, it feels to all the world that history is about to repeat itself. Leah Lawton will soon turn sixteen, and Oak Knoll has a cunning predator on the hunt.

Sheriff's detective Tony Mendez and his team begin to close in on the suspected killer, desperate to keep the young women of their picturesque town safe. But as the investigators sift through the murky circumstances of an increasingly disturbing case, a stunning question changes everything they thought they knew. In Down the Darkest Road , #1 New York Times bestseller Tami Hoag proves again why she is one of the world's most beloved storytellers.

Author Notes

Tami Hoag was born on January 20, 1959, in Cresco, Iowa. Her first novel, The Trouble with J. J., was published in 1988. Her other works include Night Sins, Guilty as Sin, The Alibi Man, Prior Bad Acts, Dark Horse, Kill the Messenger, Deeper Than the Dead, Secrets to the Grave, Down the Darkest Road, Cold Cold Heart, the Bitter Season, and The Boy. She is a past recipient of the Career Achievement Award from the Romantic Times.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Bestseller Hoag's so-so third thriller set in the small California community of Oak Knoll (after 2010's Secrets to the Grave) focuses on 42-year-old Lauren Lawton, who arrives in Oak Knoll in 1990 with her nearly 16-year-old daughter, Leah. Four years earlier, Lauren's other daughter, Leslie, disappeared at age 16 in Santa Barbara, where the police never managed to find a shred of tangible evidence against the obvious suspect in the abduction, creepy photographer Roland Ballencoa. The trauma of Leslie's unknown fate and her father's subsequent suicide left Lauren emotionally shattered and barely able to function. But Oak Knoll proves no refuge. Within months, she's horrified to spot Ballencoa in town. Despite Lauren's best efforts to shield Leah from further terror, history repeats itself. The major plot twist won't surprise many readers, and neither the characters nor the cliche-hobbled story line are among Hoag's best work. Author tour. Agent: Andrea Cirillo. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

Hoag's third series entry (after Deeper Than the Dead and Secrets to the Grave) returns to the small California town of Oak Knoll. With her daughter Leah, Lauren Lawton has retreated there to escape the pain and heartbreak of her eldest daughter's abduction four years earlier and the subsequent death of her husband. But peace is far from Lauren's grasp as she spots the suspected abductor, Roland Ballencoa, in town. So begins a terrifying turn of events. Series characters Det. Tony Mendez and retired FBI profiler Vince Leone and his wife, Anne, enter the picture as Lauren seeks to discover her missing daughter's fate. Her obsession develops into near vigilantism and the reckless stalking of Ballencoa. Verdict Fans of Lisa Gardner and Iris Johansen will be glued to their seats by Hoag's chilling cliffhanger scenes and psychological puzzles. This taut novel of suspense is a true nail-biter.-Susan Carr, Edwardsville P.L., IL (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.