A Decent Ransom - a new review

“Although this story is written by an author in Australia, I kept envisioning various landscapes in the U.S. that I am familiar with. Pristine Mountain could be a mountain in rural Colorado or Arkansas or many of the other states in America. It has universal appeal in that the characters could be seen walking down ANY road…maybe even YOUR road!

     Where to begin telling the tale that our author tells so well? With the boy? With the kidnap victim? With the victim’s husband? With the kidnapper? The author spins a tale of suspense and intrigue, drawing us farther and farther into the story, until we realize that she has really taken us on a ride on a huge Mobius Strip. If you are not familiar with a Mobius Strip, a model can easily be created by taking a paper strip and giving it a half-twist, and then joining the ends of the strip together to form a single strip. Now, take a pencil and put it down on any spot on the strip…and draw a line the length of the strip. Your line will go round and round, on the outside AND inside of the strip, until it meets itself once again. This is what the author does as she weaves the stories of the characters’ lives! All of the characters flit in and out of each other’s lives, all interconnected along that Mobius Strip. She begins with one character and tells the story from that point of view. Then she steps into the skin of another character and tells you their tale. She goes on and on and little by little, you eventually find that you are in possession of the WHOLE story and you are totally stunned by the truth of it all. You didn’t count on this, you tell yourself. Each character is on that strip, and their lives all bump into each other in the most unusual ways. What a delicious tale this author weaves for us. What a wonderful slippery slope we must climb to get to the whole truth and nothing but the truth. How delightful it is to find the true hero of the story.

     I hope you take the time to hunt down “A Decent Ransom” and make it a part of your life! You will come away with a whole new perspective on kidnappings! So, come ride the Mobius Strip of the author’s imagination! It is a trip well worth taking!” Mary Aycock – Front Street Reviews, October 2008