Title: Cold Black River

Author: Megan Stockton and Jay Bower

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX2XB5YY

Summary

On a cold December afternoon, ten-year-old Tucker Smith enters the Christmas fair with his father.

He never comes home.

Parents Abbie and Dane are consumed by fear, guilt, and the growing suspicion that someone knows exactly where their son is. Their marriage begins to fracture beneath the strain, every day without their son driving them further apart.

Then a note arrives. Tucker is alive, and if they pay the ransom they can have him back.

Scrambling to secure the funds, they wage everything they have on one final chance to save their child… but the ransom is only the beginning, and the truth waiting for them may be more horrific than they can handle.

My Review

5/5 Stars

Before diving into this book, I read all the warnings that it was a tearjerker, but I admit I didn’t believe them. I mean, how sad could a book be? Turns out I was wrong. This book had me SOBBING! It was so tragic and heartbreaking.

What starts as a normal outing for a father and a son ends in despair when the son ends up getting kidnapped. Of course the parents do everything in their power to get him back, but things go so horribly wrong so fast.

This book explores a lot of themes—addiction, loss, and toxic relationships. I honestly had no clue how much this book would make me think about life in general. Especially with that ending. It was a reflection of how unfair life can be, and that for as much as we don’t want it to, sometimes, the bad prevails over the good and justice isn’t served.