content: Though there is a good story here, the first fourth of the book was mawkish and overwrought, and very repetitive, too. I only kept reading because it was in the car, and I was taking it to places where I had appointments to kill the wait time. Part One could have been cut by 80%, without suffering, and been a lot better read. After that things picked up. The reader knew from the first mention of Kate's disappearance who the likely villain was, and sure enough there was no surprise. I did get very impatient, too, with the heroine wrapping her arms around herself to show her emotion every two or three pages. Less is always more, and it would have been refreshing to have the author be a bit more imaginative on that score. The plot was more imaginative, however; even if too predictable in its outcome.