🎯 The Girl Who Was Taken by Charlie Donlea — Book Review (⭐ 3.5/5)
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING:
If you don’t want the big twists (and the killer’s identity!) ruined for you, back out now! Because I’m about to spill everything.
👉 Grab The Girl Who Was Taken on Amazon (affiliate link)
📚 Overview
The Girl Who Was Taken (2017) is a crime thriller by bestselling author Charlie Donlea, known for writing twisty, female-driven mysteries. This one takes place in the small (fictional) town of Emerson Bay, North Carolina and follows two kidnapped teens — one who escapes and one who doesn’t — and the dark web of secrets that unravels as the truth comes to light.
🕵️ Plot Summary: Kidnappings, Killers, and One Big “Wait, WHAT?!” Moment
We start with two high school girls:
👉 Megan McDonald — escapes her abductor after two weeks in a bunker. She becomes an overnight celebrity thanks to her survival story.
👉 Nicole Cutty — still missing, her case quickly fades from public interest.
Enter Livia Cutty, Nicole’s older sister and a determined forensic pathologist. She refuses to let the world forget Nicole.
Megan’s Trauma and Livia’s Hunt
Megan’s life is far from perfect post-rescue. She struggles with PTSD, nightmares, and fragments of memory that don’t quite add up. Meanwhile, Livia starts digging, hoping science can uncover what the police couldn’t.
Her investigation leads to:
✔️ A dead guy named Casey Delevan — Nicole’s shady summer fling
✔️ Casey’s creepy “Captive Club” — basically an amateur true crime cult for teens obsessed with kidnappings
✔️ Links between Casey, Nicole, and Megan’s abduction
Turns out, Casey and Nicole’s little club staged fake kidnappings for fun — until Casey went rogue and started the real thing.
The Twist: The Killer’s Way Too Close
Through therapy and hypnotherapy, Megan pieces together a terrifying memory:
➡ The sound of a leather gun holster during her captivity.
➡ She connects the dots: her kidnapper is her own dad — Chief of Police Terry McDonald!
Yep. The guy leading the investigation was the monster behind it all.
The Wild Finale
Megan and Livia find an abandoned house where Megan was held. Inside:
👉 Elizabeth, another girl who’s been captive for two years
👉 Hints Nicole was there too, though she’s now gone
They call the cops… forgetting the chief is the villain. Naturally, Chief McDonald shows up first, planning to kill everyone and burn the evidence. (Because of course.)
Livia saves the day — sets him on fire (seriously).
Later in the hospital, he confesses:
👉 He hired Casey to kidnap girls for him.
👉 Casey didn’t know Megan was his daughter — awkward.
👉 Chief McDonald killed Casey and Nicole when his secrets were about to come out.
The book ends with Nicole’s body likely found at another site, and everyone left trying to pick up the pieces.
😬 What Worked (and What Didn’t)
✨ What I liked:
✔️ Addictive mystery — I had to know how it all fit together
✔️ Creepy, layered plot with some clever red herrings
🤨 What bugged me:
✔️ The killer? Barely developed beyond “bad dad with a badge.”
✔️ That ending logic: WHY call the cops when you know the chief is the kidnapper? Who thought that would end well?!
📌 Snag Your Copy
👉 The Girl Who Was Taken on Amazon (affiliate link)
😍 If You Liked This, You Might Also Love:
👉 The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald — dark secrets + family drama
👉 Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson — creepy neighbor vibes
👉 The Good Girl by Mary Kubica — another “abduction with a twist”
🌟 Final Thoughts
I’m landing at 3.5 stars — maybe 4 on a good day. It kept me turning the pages, but that underdeveloped villain and that head-scratcher of an ending? Yeah…
If you like your thrillers dark, fast-paced, and twisty — and don’t mind a few logic leaps — this one’s worth a read!
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