Stolen Children by Peg Kehret

Hello Beautiful People! Welcome back to a new review! For this review, I got into Stolen Children by Peg Kehret.

Main Characters:

• Amy: 14-year-old girl who is working a babysitting job when she is kidnapped
• Kendra: 3-year old who Amy is babysitting who is also kidnapped
• Smokey and Hugh: The kidnappers

My Review

I have to do a bit of explaining before I get into my review of this book. When I originally started reading this book I realized early on how soft the language used was. I found it kind of odd because I wasn’t expecting the language to be so much like something that a young teenager would say. I went and looked into the book before continuing and realized that it’s actually a young adult book. I was confused about how a book like that managed to end up on my list and then I realized that I had added this book to my Goodreads to-be-read list back in 2016… for those of you who are curious I was 16/17 back then. I thought I had cleared most of the YA books off of my list that I hadn’t been able to read before I had gotten older but this one clearly snuck through the cracks. I decided to keep reading it because it isn’t a long novel and even though it was softer than I was used to I thought I might enjoy it still. The softness was honestly a nice break from what I usually read.

I gave the book a 7.5/10 rating and I really tried to put myself in my teenage brain to give the rating. If I was 16 17 years old reading this I think I would have enjoyed it way more than I did as an adult. I think being an adult and reading this book is totally fine but the disadvantage is that as an adult reading this, you can’t help but think the entire situation that happens in the book wouldn’t have happened as it did if it was real life. I do think it was nice though that in this book the kidnapping and threats to kill were about as violent as it got. The book mostly follows Amy taking care of herself and Kendra and trying to figure out a way to get them out of this situation softly.

I do have to commend Amy as a character a lot though in this book. There were parts where I was getting annoyed with Kendra and was like ‘Girl just leave her and run’ but she wouldn’t do it so she’s definitely a better person than me. Amy is a very level-headed character for being 14 years old and being in the situation she’s in, I think if I was 14 and dealing with this I would have totally shut down. What she does the whole time is just think of ways to get them out. She’s also incredibly smart and uses a tool that the kidnappers use to try to get a ransom to send out messages to the police.

I would definitely recommend this for any teens, or anyone who is in the mood for a quick soft mystery with no violence. The book has its sweet parts as well in which Amy is able to learn more about the human condition and what the real world is really like.

Summary and Commentary

***Please be aware this section will have spoilers***

The story starts off with Amy getting a call from Ms. Edgerton a new babysitting client who is interested in hiring her to come and watch her daughter Kendra. Amy goes over to the Edgerton home to watch Kendra so Ms. Edgerton can go care for her mother. Kendra is a fairly innocent child, but what annoyed me the most about her was that she only refers to herself in the context of her toy Tubby. If she wants something or needs something, she requests it for Tubby. It was cute the first few times in the book but eventually, I got tired of hearing Tubby all the time.

We learn that Amy has some insecurities about her ability to do the right thing based on the recent passing of her father.  Despite it not being her fault at all Amy puts a lot of the blame for his death on herself and when it comes to things like babysitting she desperately wants to prove she can do a good job. Her dad and her didn’t leave things off on good terms before he passed and that seems to cause a lot of guilt for her. Amy puts down Kendra for a nap and then lays down for a bit. Amy is awoken from her sleep after hearing a noise. She feels like it may be Kendra up and goes to check on her. Kendra isn’t anywhere to be found and goes into a panic.

When Amy goes outside to look for her she comes face to face with a strange man. She quickly realizes what’s going on when she sees Kendra crying in his vehicle. Amy tries to make a break back to the house but they grab her before she can make it. The kidnappers originally had just planned to take Kendra and weren’t expecting Amy to roll in. I mean the one thing with this is I am surprised Amy didn’t wake up when they came in the house and took Kendra but maybe she’s just a very heavy sleeper. The kidnappers are named Smokey and Hugh and Smokey is able to get Amy to come with them with little commotion by threatening her with a gun. As bad as this sounds I was happy Amy was with Kendra because Smokey and Hugh kind of seemed like idiots so at least she would have someone there to look out for her.

Amy finds out that Smokey and Hugh are doing this in the hopes of a big payday. They plan to send videos to the families in order to get them to send a large amount of money in return for the girls. Smokey was previously dating Kendra’s nanny Darielle and that is how they concocted this whole plan in the first place. Darielle was originally supposed to help but when they broke up Smokey decided to go forward with the plan anyway. Hugh wasn’t aware of any of this and is clearly frustrated with Smokey for messing up their plans. Hugh is convinced the nanny with give them up to the police but Smokey isn’t.

Without Darielle being involved in the plan it’s clear the two men really dropped the ball and were relying on her to pull through on a lot. Smokey just didn’t think to plan to have one of them do it instead. The place they bring the girls to isn’t safe, doesn’t have any food, or beds. The men don’t seem to care about the conditions but Amy is so disturbed that they expect her to take care of Kendra in these conditions. Amy tries her best to figure out where they are but the men brought the girls to a little cabin in the middle of nowhere so she can’t really gather much. Amy starts to think of a plan around how she could potentially get a message to the police through the videos they plan to send. I mean she doesn’t exactly have much info to give but I appreciated her attitude about it all. She decides that all she can give is potentially the car the men drove them here in, and a store they stopped in before they went to this raggedy cabin.

Amy slips up though and in an attempt to look at the licence plate number on the car the men become suspicious of her. I wanted to tell her to cool it a bit. I mean I get it she really wants to get them out of there but I originally before knowing this was a non-violent book thought they might kill her if she tries doing too much. When it comes time to shoot the first video for the ransom Amy secretly sneaks in a message. She scratches her ears every time she leaves a clue, and she tells them things in a weird way but is able to describe the car that brought them here. I didn’t think the police would be able to do much with just a colour and type of car, but I thought the whole thing was sweet. I guess it would help though if they’re looking for them. The messages she left though would make the people she knew suspicious so at least the cops would know she was trying to tell them something.

When Huge takes the girls out one day he drops that the nanny was originally supposed to be a part of the plan and that she was dating Smokey. This gives Amy the idea that she has to somehow leave a clue about this in the next video since they could link Darielle to Smokey. Amy teaches Kendra a game that includes animal noises. She hopes that saying what the nanny goat says accompanied by a scratch may give them a clue. Amy decides to try to run off with Kendra in an attempt to escape. With Kendra being so young and Amy being young herself she isn’t strong enough to carry her for too long, and Kendra isn’t strong enough to run for long. The two don’t make it far before the men find them in the woods. Amy running off with Kendra gets Hugh really upset, and he decides that they are going to have to kill Amy, she wasn’t even their target in the first place and was causing problems. I wondered realistically why they didn’t just kill her at the house when she saw them, maybe both the men are at least a little civil.

Smokey is looking to blame Hugh when they find the girls, blaming him for letting them escape. Amy covers for him and lies that they got away when he was in the washroom not when he was sleeping as had actually happened. Amy hopes to get on Hugh’s good side by covering for him hoping it may save her life at some point. Amy is able to drop her clue in the next video and starts thinking about how she will drop the name of the store in the next video. So far with the help of her family, the police have been picking up on Amy’s clues, I mean she’s definitely a smart girl I’ll give her that. Amy noticed that Smokey had been hiding the gun in the glove compartment of the vehicle. She says she’s going to sneak out there when everyone’s sleeping and hide the gun so she doesn’t have to worry about one of the men threatening or hurting her or Kendra. I thought this was pretty smart honestly. She knows she can’t get away but may as well take away any weapons that would make it easy to hurt her. When she goes to look she finds that the gun isn’t there and wonders if Smokey has it on him. Smokey is more erratic than Hugh and it’s concerning if he has a gun as he may use it in a more violent way than Hugh would.

With the police now wondering about Kendra’s nanny from Amy’s last clue they realize that she’s nowhere to be found which makes her very suspicious. She had told Edgerton she would be gone on vacation but no one could get a hold of her, so they put out a call for her on the news. Darielle went on vacation with a new boyfriend who was the complete opposite of Smokey. She planned to get a clean break from him. Amy drops the next clue about the store in the next video. Hugh finds out the gun is gone from the spot when he goes looking for it. This starts an issue of mistrust between the two which is good and bad for Amy and Kendra. The tension may mean that they may be too focused on each other to pay attention to the girls, but at the same time, it may make them more on edge and more willing to snap at the girls.

The police put out a call for the vehicle on the news and Smokey sees it meaning he plans to ditch it for a new vehicle. The men start to get more on edge feeling like the police are getting closer to finding them, but don’t realize it’s Amy who’s leading them. Two women riding in the mountains stumble on the cabin when the girls and Hugh are outside sometime. This makes them even more on edge and I definitely started to worry for Amy because I knew she would be their number one target. After seeing them the women stop at the store and gossip with the cashier about the new family living in the cabins. One night Amy sees Hugh grab the gun from the new hiding spot. She plans to move soon. I’ll give this girl a prop she has guts. I would have never gone to the efforts she has but she sticks to her motivations and keeps trying to find ways to get them out.

Amy is able to sneak the gun out of the cabin and drop it in the hole in the outhouse. Good for her. The police are finally able to get a hold of Darielle after her new boyfriend sees her on the news and tells her to call. Her new boyfriend doesn’t know about her past life so she tries as much as possible to just brush it off like it’s no big deal and she didn’t actually have as much involvement in Kendra’s life as the police made it seem. A helicopter starts flying over the wooded area they are staying in which makes the men frantic as to if the police are near. When Hugh goes to find the gun and sees it’s gone he thinks Amy has hidden it. Amy convinces him that Smokey took it again in the hopes of turning them against each other. Amy is able to distract the men with fighting over the gun, and some other distractions and is able to get her and Kendra to the vehicle and take off before they can get to them. The funny part is Amy is 14 and has never driven before so she ends up not being the best natural driver. She does a lot better than I would have honestly thought I would have crashed the thing for sure. The vehicle runs out of gas. The helicopter is still flying over so Amy lays on the horn in hopes they will find them.

Amy is able to get the police to find her and Kendra in the broken-down car before the men do. Amy and Kendra are saved and Smokey and High are arrested. Amy of course is praised for her bravery and her ability to be so creative in helping the police. Darielle becomes wanted by the police and it ends up being her new boyfriend who turns her in. True karma for that woman that’s for sure. I mean she wasn’t directly involved in the kidnapping, but she gave the men all the info they needed to take Kendra. The story ends in a sweet way with everyone being reunited with their parents and a happy ending for all except those who committed the crimes.

I thought the story was really sweet and was a fun quick read. I do definitely think I would have enjoyed it more if I was a teen as it’s a bit juvenile but I think anyone can read this if you’re in the mood for a light-hearted mystery.

I hope you enjoyed this review! Have you read this one before? What did you think? Feel free to check out all my socials @baddiebookreviews to be kept up to date for when I release a new review.