Unwrapping a Review of STOLEN, a Cassidy & Spenser Thriller by Carey Baldwin

I know I’ve been away for a long while, and I apologize for that. Family responsibilities keep me from reading at the rate I normally do but I assure  you that I am reading, and I will continue to review any book I feel you will enjoy reading. It’s taken me almost a year but I finally finished reading STOLEN by Carey Baldwin. STOLEN is the fourth book in the Cassidy & Spenser series of suspense thrillers from Witness Impulse. If you love a good edge of the seat story, this series is for you.

***purchased for my own personal reading but sharing my honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for STOLEN:

Is she missing…or a murderer?

When Laura Chaucer, daughter of a U.S. senator, vanishes from her college campus, celebrated FBI profilers Special Agent Atticus Spenser and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Caitlin Cassidy are called in. Thirteen years ago, Laura and her nanny disappeared from her family’s Denver home. Laura was found alive, but her nanny wasn’t so lucky… and the killer was never caught. Laura could identify him—if only she didn’t have a deep, dark hole in her memory.

Now she’s missing again. Did the troubled young woman run away or has the kidnapper returned? As women who look eerily similar to Laura’s nanny begin turning up dead, the Chaucer family psychiatrist renders a disturbing opinion: Laura is unstable, a danger to herself and others. Who knows what terrible secrets lurk in the shadowy recesses of her mind? Cassidy and Spenser must solve one of the most infamous cold cases ever to uncover the answer: Is Laura a killer, or is a monster still out there, waiting to claim another victim?

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Thirteen years ago, Laura Chaucer was kidnapped, and her nanny murdered. Memories, as well as the lack of memories, have plagued her ever since. She has also felt as if she’d yet to be freed from the nightmare since her Senator father continued to protect and control every aspect of her life. When she decides to change colleges and returns to a school near the site of her kidnapping, trouble finds her again. Now she has awakened surrounded by blood, naked, sick, and there is an all too familiar lock of hair tied with a pink ribbon. But where is the monster from her nightmares? When will he return to finish her off, or is it possible that she is the killing monster all along?

Called in to be part of the task force investigating the disappearance of Senator Chaucer’s daughter who was kidnapped thirteen years earlier, Caitlin and Spense put their investigative and profiling skills to work. Much to Caitlin’s chagrin and Spense’s annoyance, the family’s therapist is also a man from Caity’s past and as far as Spense is concerned, a possible suspect. As the evidence begins to unfold, secrets become known, as well as possibly more victims, and suspects present themselves including Laura Chaucer as one.

As always, Carey Baldwin manages to weave an exciting and suspenseful thriller…and STOLEN is no exception. However, I had a bit of problem with how, when in Laura’s point of view, she seemed already to know Caity and Spense’s names. I also stumbled over some very obvious proofing errors but it was the prior problem that had me holding back from being totally hooked into the story.

However, later, as the mystery began to unfold, I got past all of that and became completely engrossed in the who-done-it and just when I thought I knew who it was…Carey knocked my feet out from under me and surprised me! I will say that I pride myself in figuring out the bad guy before the reveal, but she got me this time. Brava Carey! That made up for any other gripe.

I highly recommend STOLEN by Carey Baldwin to anyone who loves a good thriller with suspense, danger—physical and psychological, bad guys seemingly crawling out of the woodwork, and secrets that blow the story wide open as the serial killer bad guy is finally revealed. This entire series is exceptional and although the thriller part of the stories stand alone, the ever-increasing intimate relationship between Caitlin and Spense lends to this series being read in order. By the way, there’s a big romantic gesture in this one. And just so I don’t miss out, I’m moving directly on to reading book five in the series, COUNTDOWN.

Happy Reading Everyone!

STOLEN, a Cassidy-Spenser thriller by Carey Baldwin, Witness Impulse, available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.