Abandoned [Paperback]

One of the staples of thriller literature is the deranged killer. The more imaginative authors are able to use these madmen to take their readers by the hand and nudge them to varying degrees in the direction of the abyss of madness. In some cases, it's a glance toward it; in others, a peek downward. And, in the most extreme, it's a push forward when you reach the edge. ABANDONED by Cody McFadyen goes a bit further, dragging you kicking and screaming to the chasm and then giving you a hearty two-handed shove.

While this is only McFadyen's fourth novel, his writing is possessed with a sureness and confidence that some veteran authors would kill for. This talent is beautifully displayed in ABANDONED, which features the return of Smoky Barrett. An FBI Special Agent, Smoky has had so much happen to her in McFayden's preceding volumes that the mere whisper of her presence is enough to cause familiar readers to cringe. Her family murdered and her face terribly scarred (not once, but twice), one fears what will happen to our heroine next. But somehow, she finds the strength to soldier on. And in ABANDONED, she finally has a chance at happiness: she is in a relationship with the quiet and capable --- and very deadly --- Tommy; she has Bonnie, her adopted daughter, who is everything one could wish for in a child; and, separate from this, she has two secrets, one she keeps with Tommy and the other from him.

While celebrating the wedding of Callie, her team member, Smoky receives an enigmatic text message followed shortly by the abrupt deposit of a seriously injured woman into the midst of the festivities. The woman, a police officer, had been missing for seven years and is unable to describe what has happened to her in her current condition. Smoky and her team begin an investigation, one that uncovers what appears to be a clandestine service run by a criminal mastermind who, for a significant fee, will make a troublesome wife disappear without a trace. That is, until such time as she can legally be declared dead and insurance proceeds can be collected. The provider of the service is detached, precise and amoral. And heaven help the man who reneges on the agreement.

Smoky precisely and methodically leads her team through the investigation, discovering similar occurrences as they slowly move in on the fiend. Then, just as they seem to be on the verge of honing in on him, the unthinkable happens. Smoky has to make a terrible choice, one that will change her and the team forever, even as the identity of the mastermind provides the biggest surprise of all.

I haven't lived what one could call a sheltered life by any stretch of the imagination, but McFadyen manages to make me cringe. Naturally, I loved every word, every sentence. McFadyen's storytelling prowess and plotting ability as displayed in ABANDONED would be enough to recommend it; however, he is also a remarkable writer who brings considerable literary skills to the desk. The result is a work that, while horrifying in (many) places, skillfully slices into and out of that which is life, good and bad. Be fairly warned: the trip into the abyss is long and frightening...but worth taking.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Without going into detail about the plot (especially since some of the other reviews have given away too much of what happens), let me just say that in Abandoned McFadyen has created a killer who doesn't kill for thrills, sex or even for power -- it's far more twisted than that. The concept of this plot is quite complex, and McFadyen succeeds quite well in executing the plot in the first quarter and last quarter of the book. During these parts of the book the story is intense and had me on the edge of my seat. However, I found that the second and third quarters of Abandoned dragged on with insufficient action and thrills being provided. Further, while McFadyen continued to provide this reader with a deeper understanding into the psyche of his main character, FBI special agent Smokey Barrett, and into his psychopathic killer, McFadyen gave short shrift in Abandoned to several of the key supporting characters that helped make his previous three books so memorable for me (i.e., Shadow Man, The Face Of Death and A Darker Place). As such, I'd strongly recommend to anyone considering reading Abandoned and who has not previously read at least one of Mcfadyen's other books, that they first read at least Shadow Man in order to begin to understand and to develop an appreciation of McFadyen's richly developed characters. I don't believe a new reader will get this sense of appreciation from beginning with Abandoned, and will probably not care much about the characters that were so richly developed in McFadyen's other books (e.g., Callie Thorne, Alan Washington, James Giron, etc.); which, in turn, will lessen their overall appreciation of the book. In net, while Abandoned has its flaws and while it is the weakest of McFadyen's four thrillers, it is still a book well worth reading.

Parts of this book were compelling, but all in all, not the best writing. Here are 3 things I didn't like: First, all the drawn out detail about the internet blogging was extremely boring and unnecessary. This occurred in the middle of the book and dragged the story down to the point where I almost stopped reading. Second, I detest endings where the captured villian spills their guts and tells you all the motivation and planning behind their actions in minute detail. Not only would this not happen, it's cheating on the part of the author who doesn't have the skill to finish the story in a more credible fashion. And third, if the character Callie called one more person "Honey Love", I think I would have thrown up. Gosh dang, what bad writing. This book didn't work for me at all. I barely managed to finish it (hoping for a better ending), but will not read another Cody McFadyen. I give this one and a half stars.

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