Meet Roy Ballard, freelance videographer with a knack for catching insurance cheats. He’s working a routine case, complete with hours of tedious surveillance, when he sees something that shakes him to the core. There, with the subject, is a little blond girl wearing a pink top and denim shorts – the same outfit worn by Tracy Turner, a six-year-old abducted the day before. When the police are skeptical of Ballard’s report – and with his history, who can blame them? – it’s the beginning of the most important case of his life.
Guilt-free summer read This was a light, fun, summer read. No sex, minimal swearing, main female character was a smart gal, not just a bimbo. Main male character was easy to like and I kept cheering for him to solve the kidnapping as the cops were a group of dullards.
Marvelous story I have always been a Ben Rehder fan. He is a fellow Texan and has written several great books referred to as the Blanco County Mysteries. Upon reading these, I believed I had found an author whose book releases made me salivate. I enjoyed his books THE CHICKEN HANGER and The DRIVING LESSON and so when I heard about GONE THE NEXT, I naturally expected a great book because Ben Rehder rules the mystery genre. However, upon reading this book, I fell in love with this man’s talent to rule his genre…
Another excellent Ben Rehder novel I have been a fan of Rehder’s books since BUCK FEVER, his first Blanco County novel and have read most of his work. He is has demonstrated a quirky sense of character and humor in his mysteries, but in GONE THE NEXT he has mellowed. His story here has fewer oddball players or humorous circumstances. He takes on a serious crime, in this case child abduction, and appropriately creates a new, more serious, yet still wisecracking, hero in the form of Ray Ballard — not a detective or police…