And Then There Was One

August 23, 2010
At the start of this gripping suspense novel from Gussin (The Test), two out of three identical girl triplets, nine-year-olds Sammie and Alex Monroe, disappear from a movie theater at a suburban Detroit mall after leaving their sister, Jackie, and a cousin, who go to the theater next door. An FBI team quickly steps in and works closely with the triplets' sports commentator father, Scott, and his African-American wife, Katie, a physician who investigates child sexual abuse. The red herrings multiply as Scott and Katie try to recall who would want to harm them by taking their daughters. The fear and anguish the Monroes feel as they search for their missing children will resonate with many readers, but others may have trouble with some clumsy prose ("The evil he'd seen in human beings defied logic and exceeded the worst horrors that most people could not even dream").

August 15, 2010

A psychiatrist and a former Yankee catcher are devastated when two of their triplet daughters are kidnapped.           

People always turn to look at the Monroe girls, whether because of their good looks—a charming blend of their petite African-American mother and their strapping white father—or because identical triplets are so rare. But someone who's looked at them with more than just curiosity snatches Alex and Sammie from a movie theater while their sister Jackie watches a different flick with their older cousin Danielle. FBI Special Agent Tony Streeter is hell-bent on finding out just who has the girls. Is it Katie Munroe's old flame, Keith Franklin, making a desperate bid to get her back? Sexual predator Maxwell Cutty, who wants to keep forensic psychiatrist Katie from testifying against him in court? Cliff Hunter, who blames Scott for ruining his major league career? Someone with a grudge against biracial couples? Or an anonymous middle-aged woman who may have been spotted at the mall with Alex and Sammie? As Streeter and his FBI colleague Ellen Camry hit a series of dead ends, the Monroes decompensate, slipping pain meds into each other's drinks to help themselves cope. Even the six-figure reward offered by Scott's sister, songstress Monica Monroe, doesn't seem to be enough to flush out a kidnapper whose motive isn't clear.

Instead of weaving together threads, Gussin (Twisted Justice, 2007, etc.) crams together plot chunks in this convoluted, stagnant thriller.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 15, 2010
Gussins fourth novel is a taut psychological suspense story that explores family issues. Katie and Scott Monroe have identical triplet daughters, Sammie, Alex, and Jackie. This picture-perfect family shatters when the girls go to a movie and only one of them, Jackie, emerges from the theater. What happened to her sisters? Katie and Scott struggle to cope as Jackie suffers from survivors guilt. Gussin, a family physician, does an excellent job portraying a family under stress. Readers plunge into the middle of the action immediately and keep sweating as false leads and multiple suspects muddle the search. A gripping thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)