LATEST REVIEWS OF 'ABANDONED'

Mike Dole, ex-Soldier, mentally scarred by his military experiences and an abusive childhood is smotheringly over-protective of his girlfriend, Tess. Until the day she inadvertently triggers the darker side of his nature.

As a result Tess wakes from a drugged slumber to find herself abandoned, with only a very basic survival kit, on a small uninhabited Scottish island.

Mike, his mental 'demons' temporarily calmed by this sacrifice takes up with another girl. The police search for the missing Tess and, as one clue leads to another, Mike does a runner and attempts to dump the second girl on the same island.

But Tess has survived and turns the tables. Tess is no longer the timid little thing she once was, and now Mike is the target of a manhunt, by the police and his old major,but the motives for hunting him down aren't as clear cut as one might expect..

The story builds to a surprising climax, and no character is left untouched by the events. This story is - essentially - a 'chase', but with three dimensional characters and surprising depth.

What it most definitely *isn't* is another Rambo pastiche.

Well worth a read.

(John Craggs) April 2008


“An exciting and thought provoking story set against the stunning backdrop of the North West Highlands, and the vibrant city of Leicester”


“a tight narrative style… no words wasted, no long descriptive passages, and plenty of dialogue”


“intriguing and absorbing – with a surprise ending that was immensely satisfying”


“a lot of people will love it because it's thoughtful, and unfolds as it goes instead of exploding in your face. In short, readers, as opposed to those who seem to see books as a second class relative to TV or film”


“it made me think of John Buchan. Buchan's books - the most famous probably being The 39 Steps - were primarily 'chases'. Abandoned is a 'chase' with added depth"

Abandoned

Tess woke up alone in a wood of young trees, with the ozone smell of the sea sharp in the air, and the sound of the waves barely discernable over the thudding of her heart.
A thin drizzle began to fall. She had no idea where she was.
Mike, she thought.
She’d thought at the time that he’d taken it well.
He stood on the doorstep as they exchanged the CDs and books each had borrowed, giving back the little pieces of themselves that they’d shared for a time. She’d asked him in, just to be polite.
No.
If she was honest, and she may as well be now, she asked him in because she was too pathetic to tell him to leave. That was the story of her life.
On that first day, Tess stood and looked around at the hard, unknown landscape, crying like a lost child, fear sizzling in her veins. She pushed freezing fingers into the pocket of her jeans and found a scrap of paper there. As she read it, dread closed a fist round her heart, and she fell to her knees. The words on the paper smeared in the rain and ran together like hieroglyphics. It didn’t matter, because she wasn’t going to forget those words for a long time.
You said you could look after yourself, they said. Go ahead and try.

Now available!

My novel, ABANDONED, is now available to buy from http://www.lulu.com/content/2072117
or direct from me. More information and excerpts can be found at my website: http://www.jeanettemccarthy.co.uk/