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Summary: 'LAND OF THE LIVING'
Review: 'LAND OF THE LIVING' is the story of Abbie Devereaux, a young woman who is held captive by a strange man with no memory of how she got there or anything that happened in the days leading up to her capture. We follow Abbie as she tries to uncover the truth about why she was kidnapped as well as prove to the police that her story of being held against her will is true. This is the first novel by Nicci French that I have read and I devoured it in one day. The novel was fast paced and kept me guessing until the very end. I will be rushing out to buy other titles by French!
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Summary: What if You Were Kidnapped and Nobody Believed You?
Review: Abbie Devereaux is abducted and tethered like a sacrificial lamb in an abandoned stable. She manages to get away from her kidnapper and is found by the police only to be sent back to a life she'd been trying to escape and no one believes her. She goes from parents to friends and they seem to barley tolerate her, even they don't seem to believe her.Is she losing her mind? She could think that, because due to a blow to her head, she has no memory of the two weeks leading up to her capture. No memory of where she lives, whether she has a job, where she stands with her boyfriend, no memory of her normal, everyday life. As the authorities question her credibility, she can't help but wonder if there is a connection between the facts she has forgotten and the kidnapping itself. Without the police to help her and with almost no money, Abbie is determined to retrace all her steps during the days she has no memory of, hoping to find out who her kidnapper, a horrible psycho killer, had been and to get back her reputation, but that means she may have to go back to the place where all the horror began. LAND OF THE LIVING is a masterful work by Nicci French (actually the writing team of Sean French and his partner Nicci). In my opinion this book is just about as good a thriller as French's BENEATH THE SKIN, which I consider to be the best Woman in Trouble thriller ever written. If you're not on the edge of your seat as your fingers burn through these pages, you're simply not human. Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
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Summary: Gripping
Review: Abbie Devereaux is taken hostage by a man who intends to kill her after he mentally tortures her. Abbie manages to escape from the man, but the police believe her story is fabricated. She has no recollection of how she was kidnapped, or who kidnapped her, nor does she remember the events leading up to her capture. This is a gripping tale, full of suspense and many twists and turns. Although the protagonist at times seemed too willing to rush headlong into danger without thinking of the consequences, this did not distract from this thrilling tale. The ending was a little unbelievable (her confrontation with the killer), but other than that, a great book. This is the first book I've read by Nicci French and one I really enjoyed.
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Summary: Gripping
Review: Abbie Devereaux is taken hostage by a man who intends to kill her after he mentally tortures her. Abbie manages to escape from the man, but the police believe her story is fabricated. She has no recollection of how she was kidnapped, or who kidnapped her, nor does she remember the events leading up to her capture. This is a gripping tale, full of suspense and many twists and turns. Although the protagonist at times seemed too willing to rush headlong into danger without thinking of the consequences, this did not distract from this thrilling tale. The ending was a little unbelievable (her confrontation with the killer), but other than that, a great book. This is the first book I've read by Nicci French and one I really enjoyed.
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Summary: A Bone Chilling Story, but What a Good Book
Review: Abbie Devereaux wakes, or comes to, in a basement, tied and blindfolded. She has no memory of her captor or of how she got there or how long she's been there. She manages to get away, runs to a home nearby and asks the occupant to call the police. While she's recovering in the hospital, she realizes that the police and their psychologist don't believe her. They think she made the whole thing up. She'd been depressed, after all. Plus, she'd been in an abusive relationship. However, she knows her kidnapping had been real and she remembers the four names her tormentor had whispered to her, names of other women he'd taken. She's frightened the man will come for her again and without her memory she's powerless. She tries to remember the time just before the kidnapping and she discovers that she'd quit her job, left her apartment and abusive lover and had moved in with a new friend named Jo. Then Abbie begins to believe that Jo has disappeared when she doesn't show up for work and her friends say they haven't heard from her. She tells the police, but they don't believe her about Jo either, so now she has to find out about what happened to her friend as well as to herself. This is a bone chilling novel that will draw you right into the story, whether you want to go there or not. You can't help but be worried and frightened right along with Abbie, can't help by sympathize with her as she struggles to maintain her sanity, can't help but worry as she looks over her shoulder, afraid that she's being watched. Brrr, but what a good book.
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Summary: Such potential!
Review: LAND OF THE LIVING grabbed me from the first sentence and wouldn't let go until the last. Right off, we're inside the head of a woman who's been kidnapped. We're with her as she struggles to keep her sanity and as she comes to accept death as inevitable. The simpler her words, the more heartbreaking her ordeal. And the worst is yet to come: No one believes this really happened to Abbie. So, amnesia notwithstanding, she must recreate her 'lost days' as best she can, then retrace her steps back to her kidnapper. Trying to fill in what she did during those forever-gone days was the part I loved best. It was like cell-thin layers of an onion being peeled away, one by one, ever so slowly. Excrutiating and tantalizing! I found the dialogue and characters realistic. No cardboard cut-outs here. These are complex personalities dealing with extreme circumstances. They're smart and edgy, but make mistakes and bad decisions. With one glaring exception, there's no character who isn't both damaged and tough, confused and confident, intelligent and thick. There's a refreshing lack of sentimentality. I think that's what freaked me most about this book -- how very real it all seemed. I know these people; I am these people. Most thrillers slack off around the middle. This one does not. Nor did the ending disappoint. LotL might not be to everyone's taste. Much of it is internal, what goes on in Abbie's mind. It's not action-packed. In no way is that a complaint! But if you like your thrillers riddled with violence and gore, you might be disappointed here. Like the quote from THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY from which (I assume) LotL gets its title, the core of the story is the human condition. You don't have to look into it that deeply to enjoy it, but it's there if you're interested. If Nicci French's other books are half as good as LAND OF THE LIVING, I'll be one happy gal!
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Summary: note to anna from cleveland
Review: regarding your inquiry for "the memory game" and "the safe house," both are available used on amazon, or new at amazon.co.uk. I got both years ago from the .uk site, and while they are good books, they do not even come close to "Killing me softly," which is still far and away french's best book.
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Summary: Excellent Story
Review: This is a wonderful story that kept me on edge until the very end. I really enjoy the writing team of Nicci French. This is only my second novel of theirs, but I have already bought a new one to start today.
We have all read the basic boring mystery story of the amnesia victim, but this story goes beyond that.
What if you wake up and you find yourself tied down, head covered in a hood and in the hands of a killer. What if you are actually lucky enough to get away, but have trouble convincing the police, the doctors and even your friends of the truth?
This is what happens to Abbie, the heroine in our story. She actually escapes from her killer, but does not remember the events that enabled her to be kidnapped nor does she remember the block of days before she was kidnapped. At first the police believe her, but then as they investigage, they begin to doubt her story, and believe that she may have made it up. Abbie has trouble convincing everyone of the truth, because she doesn't remember what actually happened to her in the days leading up to her kidnapping. This is an excellent story of an amnesia victim trying to piece together her life, before she was captured by a madman. Also, she knows she has to figure this out, because he knows she got away.
An excellent story that kept me on edge to the end. I would highly recommend.
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Summary: A Page Turner Thriller!
Review: This is by far the fastest novel I have read in ages. I was done in two days! I could not put it down. The twists and turns among the great amount of detail added to the substance
of the book as a whole.
I agree with some other readers that the end had potential to have a unique twist but it still left me on the edge of my seat. French could have done worse.
As I was reading it I could visualize a Lifetime movie in the works :)
Can't wait until the summer for the next one! Who's with me?! (Anyone know where I can find her early novels, The Memory Game and The Safe House?? They are all out of print.)
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Summary: Suspenseful with Good Twists and Turns
Review: This was a good read, but i found myself wanting to yell at the police, the doctors and most of all our heroine Abbie Devereaux. Even cops in the backwoods of the deep south will at least conduct some kind of investigation. and why wouldn't our hero tell her parents? her close friends? why was she wandering the shady streets of london alone? oh, becuz she was a loser who did something remarkable in the end. ok, i can dig that. the book was extremely suspenseful. i suspected all sorts of characters were the evil kidnapper, including good-guy Ben. i suspected that perhaps Abbie and Jo were the same people. the twists and turns kept you definitely on edge. and the fact that the story was based in london and used some definite UK terminology took me back. i'd recommend this book and i'd certain read another imaginative tale by nicci french. cheers!
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