In Abducted by T.R. Ragan, Lizzy Gardner is known as the one who got away. Lizzy was a teenager making her way home from a clandestine meeting with her boyfriend when she was taken by a serial killer known as Spiderman. It’s been 14 years since Lizzy planned and executed her escape from the maniac’s clutches, and she’s still dealing with the mental and emotional toll of those two months spent in hell. Now a private detective, Lizzy deals with her own fears and tortured memories by giving self-defense classes to teenage girls, all in an effort to ensure that the same doesn’t happen to another young girl. Making small strides in her life but still mired in the past, Lizzy knows she’ll never have peace until she knows Spiderman is dead. When Lizzy gets a call from the madman himself, and is brought in by her ex-boyfriend, now an FBI agent, to help them with a new kidnapping, she realizes she’s once again being caught in the maniac’s web, but this might be the chance she’s been hoping for to break free from the past and finally heal.I thought this book was great. All of the characters, not just Lizzy, were well written and developed. As the heroine, Lizzy was a flawed but likable character; damaged but not broken, and in her strength and determination you found hope for her future. The wonderful supporting cast of characters gave you more than one person to root for. I particularly loved Hayley, a hard as nails teenager, who won’t give an inch despite fighting some personal demons. The romantic thread to the storyline was sweet and engaging, without taking over the more important dramatic aspects of the tale. A page-turning thriller which makes you care about each character as much as you care about catching the bad guy.
