Rating: 
Summary: 'LAND OF THE LIVING'
Review: 'LAND OF THE LIVING' is the story of Abbie Devereaux, a young woman who is held captive by a strange man with no memory of how she got there or anything that happened in the days leading up to her capture. We follow Abbie as she tries to uncover the truth about why she was kidnapped as well as prove to the police that her story of being held against her will is true. This is the first novel by Nicci French that I have read and I devoured it in one day. The novel was fast paced and kept me guessing until the very end. I will be rushing out to buy other titles by French!
Rating: 
Summary: Very Suspenseful...Another winner for Nicci French.
Review: Abbie Deveraux is living a nightmare. She is tied down with a hood covering her head, and she has no idea where she is, or why she is there. Abbie can feel the presence of her captor, but never a word is spoken. Abbie knows her days are numbered as the kidnapper tells her the tale of abducting and killing his women. With nothing but fear in her heart, Abbie makes a quick decision and escapes.Telling the police of her ordeal will not be her only problem as the police don't believe her. As Abbie listens to what the detectives have to say she realizes nothing is as it seems, and those that she thought were friends are not. Set out to prove herself sane, and catch the madman who abducted her, Abbie begins a terrifying journey retracing all of her steps leading up to the day she disappeared. As things become stranger, and Abbie begins doubting her own sanity, she makes a shocking discovery, one that will change the way she feels about those she loved, and at the same time stop a killer hell bent on destroying her. 'Land Of The Living' is an interesting little thriller with lots of surprises. Major plot twists are found throughout this gripping tale of memory loss and obsession, and the pages will turn fast as you race to see what will happen next. Well written and filled with full-bodied characters, this novel rises above the norm in the psycho thriller category. Each chapter has a shock and a cliffhanger, and each cliffhanger will keep you on the edge of your seat. Nicci French has written previous bestsellers, all of which were page-turners that had readers glued to their chairs. Now with 'Land Of Living' she continues her streak of up-all-night reads with a book that is probably her best to date. While remaining character driven thriller, the novel keeps it's suspense at high levels by teasing the reader with bits of plot information, and then throws in surprise after surprise to jangle their nerves. 'Land Of The Living' is a twisty thriller that should satisfy thriller readers, and land on the bestseller lists. Nick Gonnella
Rating:
Summary: Back from a Serial Killer and Nobody Believes Her
Review: Abbie Deveraux wakes in the dark, bound with a hood over her head. She has no memory of how she got where she is or any knowledge of her captor, who gives her food and water and lets her use a bucket, but he isn't very telling her anything she wants to know. However he taunts her with the names of the five women who he'd had before her. Fortunately she manages to escape and later, in the hospital, because of her poor memory, she can't give the authorities much information which leads one of the experts called in to examine her to say that she imagined the whole thing. The police believe the expert and offer her no help, so now she's alone and needs to piece her life back together. And what she finds out is pretty upsetting. It seems she'd quit her job and walked out on her alcoholic lover. She has almost no money, no possessions and no help, but somehow she knows she has to find out who the kidnapper killer is, because she suspects that he'll come for her again. So we have a situation where Abbie and the Killer are stalking each other. LAND OF THE LIVING is a veritable tour de force of a thriller, a great read, one that I couldn't put down and one that I'll go back to again in the very near future. Jack Priest, Writer from the Darkside
Rating:
Summary: What if You Were Kidnapped and Nobody Believed You?
Review: Abbie Devereaux is abducted and tethered like a sacrificial lamb in an abandoned stable. She manages to get away from her kidnapper and is found by the police only to be sent back to a life she'd been trying to escape and no one believes her. She goes from parents to friends and they seem to barley tolerate her, even they don't seem to believe her. Is she losing her mind? She could think that, because due to a blow to her head, she has no memory of the two weeks leading up to her capture. No memory of where she lives, whether she has a job, where she stands with her boyfriend, no memory of her normal, everyday life. As the authorities question her credibility, she can't help but wonder if there is a connection between the facts she has forgotten and the kidnapping itself. Without the police to help her and with almost no money, Abbie is determined to retrace all her steps during the days she has no memory of, hoping to find out who her kidnapper, a horrible psycho killer, had been and to get back her reputation, but that means she may have to go back to the place where all the horror began. LAND OF THE LIVING is a masterful work by Nicci French (actually the writing team of Sean French and his partner Nicci). In my opinion this book is just about as good a thriller as French's BENEATH THE SKIN, which I consider to be the best Woman in Trouble thriller ever written. If you're not on the edge of your seat as your fingers burn through these pages, you're simply not human. Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: Abbie Devereaux is taken hostage by a man who intends to kill her after he mentally tortures her. Abbie manages to escape from the man, but the police believe her story is fabricated. She has no recollection of how she was kidnapped, or who kidnapped her, nor does she remember the events leading up to her capture. This is a gripping tale, full of suspense and many twists and turns. Although the protagonist at times seemed too willing to rush headlong into danger without thinking of the consequences, this did not distract from this thrilling tale. The ending was a little unbelievable (her confrontation with the killer), but other than that, a great book. This is the first book I've read by Nicci French and one I really enjoyed.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: Abbie Devereaux is taken hostage by a man who intends to kill her after he mentally tortures her. Abbie manages to escape from the man, but the police believe her story is fabricated. She has no recollection of how she was kidnapped, or who kidnapped her, nor does she remember the events leading up to her capture. This is a gripping tale, full of suspense and many twists and turns. Although the protagonist at times seemed too willing to rush headlong into danger without thinking of the consequences, this did not distract from this thrilling tale. The ending was a little unbelievable (her confrontation with the killer), but other than that, a great book. This is the first book I've read by Nicci French and one I really enjoyed.
Rating:
Summary: A Bone Chilling Story, but What a Good Book
Review: Abbie Devereaux wakes, or comes to, in a basement, tied and blindfolded. She has no memory of her captor or of how she got there or how long she's been there. She manages to get away, runs to a home nearby and asks the occupant to call the police. While she's recovering in the hospital, she realizes that the police and their psychologist don't believe her. They think she made the whole thing up. She'd been depressed, after all. Plus, she'd been in an abusive relationship. However, she knows her kidnapping had been real and she remembers the four names her tormentor had whispered to her, names of other women he'd taken. She's frightened the man will come for her again and without her memory she's powerless. She tries to remember the time just before the kidnapping and she discovers that she'd quit her job, left her apartment and abusive lover and had moved in with a new friend named Jo. Then Abbie begins to believe that Jo has disappeared when she doesn't show up for work and her friends say they haven't heard from her. She tells the police, but they don't believe her about Jo either, so now she has to find out about what happened to her friend as well as to herself. This is a bone chilling novel that will draw you right into the story, whether you want to go there or not. You can't help but be worried and frightened right along with Abbie, can't help by sympathize with her as she struggles to maintain her sanity, can't help but worry as she looks over her shoulder, afraid that she's being watched. Brrr, but what a good book.
Rating:
Summary: Amnesia undermines victim's word
Review: British writer French's latest psychological thriller opens with protagonist Abbie Devereaux, waking tied and hooded, in a dank lair with no memory of how she got there. Or who she is. Time passes, her captor returns, taunting her with coming death, reveling in her helplessness. During the hours he's gone she concentrates on staying alive and tries to remember how she got there. This creepy, claustrophobic interlude of sustained terror goes on until the reader can hardly bear it, until, by a fluke of luck, Abbie gets free. Traumatized, hospitalized, much of her memory returns, but the week or so before her capture remains blank. It's the police and the psychologists who discover she'd left her job and her boyfriend, that it had all been highly dramatic, that the boyfriend was abusive. With no evidence to back up her story of abduction, doubts arise and are finally resolved in a finding of delusion - case closed. But Abbie knows the killer is out there and still after her. With her memory stubbornly blank, she must retrace her steps. French ("Killing Me Softly," "The Red Room") continually surprises - Abbie as well as the reader - as she reconstructs her movements, drawing closer and closer to danger. Abbie proves herself resourceful and strong (so what was she doing with the nasty alcoholic boyfriend?) and the psychological suspense mounts with constricting tension, building to a harrowing climax. Another winner for French in the tradition of Minette Walters and Ruth Rendell.
Rating: 
Summary: contrived and unbelievable at every turn
Review: Given the other glowing reviews, I must be missing something. Altough the book is nicely written, the story is so implausible as to be laughable. I was willing to suspend my disbelief for the premise - I like a good suspense story and they all require some of that - but it only got worse. The cops are unbelievable, the main characters friends, who all express concern about her, are uncaring stick figures, and her quest of the truth is not only silly, it comes down to her chasing the lead of someone looking to buy a cat -- no not in the obvious places you'd think to look like pet store, adoption center, ad... but by trailing gypsies who are rumored to have cats. I kept going thinking that in the end, there'd be a lovely twist that would make it all worthwhile. Not so. It peters out with an entirely predictable and everyday ending. I wanted to throw the stupid thing against the wall.
Rating: 
Summary: Land of the Dragged Out
Review: Having had a couriosity for Nicci French's books, I finally decided to pick one up. Unfortunatly, the first one I grabbed was LAND OF THE LIVING. Let's just say it was a poor first impression. The whole general idea behind the book is not a bad one at all : Woman gets abducted and held prisoner, escapes and is thrown back into world with no resolution, memory, or sense of safety since her captor is still unknown and roaming the streets of London. The set up for a mystery is great, but there are more than a few flaws...Nicci French's novel takes many unrealistic and confusing turns. Before you can digest one new thought or idea, another random one has been thrown into the plot. On top of this, when the useless information starts to pile up, you kinda feel like you're being dragged around, and a solution to the mystery at hand is no where in sight. Don't get me wrong, the book is not a total waste of time, it just seems to take up too much for no good reason to get to the end of it.
| 
