The Stolen Hours

Lila Nash is an assistant district attorney with emotional scars that she battles daily. They are so deep and destructive that she hasn't even shared her history with Joe, her partner. When she is in court, facing a man she doesn't even know, she freezes up with an anxiety attack. What is the trigger?This is a riveting mystery and thriller about a psychopathic killer who thinks he leaves no evidence behind. Despite his attention to detail, one of his victims survives and is ready to testify against him. He is in jail but has contacts on the outside. Will the victim be able to testify or will Gavin get to her first?I especially enjoyed the story of Lila and how she moves from being a victim to a strong survivor. Her story is very true to life and her post-traumatic stress disorder is portrayed realistically. As a clinical social worker, I appreciated Mr Eskens' attention to the clinical dynamics of Lila's past.

Characterization was superb. Shows an incredible insight about the damage of assault. A impressive storyteller. You will not be disappointed.

The condition of the book was better than promised and delivery was prompt.

Really enjoyed this book

The plot is first class, characters believable and a surprising twist at the end. Everything you could a ask for.

Gifted the book but worked out great.

Five years ago, if someone would have told me I wouldn't have enjoyed an Allen Eskens book, I would've called them crazy. I thought (and still do) his debut novel "The Life We Bury" was (and is) a masterpiece. Brilliant mystery, fleshed-out characters, and the writing! There are times when his writing seemed almost like prose and has literally moved me to tears at times. This didn't change at all during the next three novels, all of which were mostly about Detective Max Rupert. I raved about all of those books and recommended them to all of my friends. Then 2018 saw the release of "The Shadows We Hide" and to say I was excited about it is an understatement. This was the highly-anticipated follow-up story about Joe Talbert (protagonist from "The Life We Bury") and I hungrily read it and.....- it was okay. Really enjoyable and better than most books I've read, but just "OK". It simply was not as brilliant as the others had been. To be fair, tho, it was still good enough that I didn't even notice it not quite living up to its predecessors. The next release, a year later, was "Nothing More Dangerous" and the first Eskens' novel that left me thinking "ehhhhhh". It seemed to try too hard to make a politically correct point and the plot and character development suffered. Imo! I gave the author the benefit of the doubt, tho, because I had read where that was actually the first novel he'd written so I assumed that explained the mediocrity. I forgot all about it and still eagerly looked forward to this release. I began reading and wanted to like it so much, just as I had enjoyed his first four-five novels. I am sad to say that I did not. Once again, Eskens seems very determined to make a politically correct point and it causes him to lose his focus. And please don't misunderstand me, it's an important point: the inequalities that women face in our society. I'd *love* for Allen Eskens to tackle this issue with the same prowess of his earlier work, but I just don't see it, unfortunately. Where is the compelling mystery? Where are the fleshed-out characters? I easily predicted how this plot would be resolved and I found the characters to be so one dimensional that I was actually rooting for the killer lol! As for the writing itself, I sorely missed the beautiful prose-like text of his earlier works. To me, this comes across as heavy handed and preachy. I'll try his next novel, "Forsaken Country", especially since it's going to be about Max Rupert, but if it's no better than "The Stolen Hours," I'm afraid my days of reading Allen Eskens will come to an end.

So well written, great characters, not predictable. Everything is just right.

I recently finished this latest Allen Eskens book and realized that I've been reading his work since 2015, which now totals about 9 novels. Everyone of them was a great read. This one was no less a winner and kept me on the edge of my chair throughout. I even got tricked by the ending which doesn't happen often.I like how he keeps a connection to his previous novels by using who may have been his main protagonist in another book as a periphery character in this one. That is Joe Talbert who has been the boyfriend of Lila Nash for the last six years. Lila is keeping a secret from him and nearly everyone in her life. She was attacked, sexually assaulted and nearly murdered by someone she cannot identify, but will never forget the brutality and those memories are wrecking havoc in her life both at home and at work.Her home and work life will collide when she begins to think that a man being held for the sexual assault and attempted murder of another woman who escaped, may be the same man who did it to her years before. I loved the short chapters which seem to make the book move along so quickly. The switching of chapters between the suspect and how he works out his plan to escape punishment and the detective running his case down. Terrific story, good writing and perfect ending. Another winner for Mr. Eskens.

His characters come alive as if they are real people.