Island of Lost Girls

by Jennifer McMahon

Book Overview

From the author of the acclaimed Promise Not to Tell comes a chilling and perfectly plotted tale in which crimes of the past and present blend in a mesmerizing tale of mystery, shattered innocence, guilt, and redemption

On her a way to a job interview, Rhonda never expected to get caught in the middle of a crime. Sitting in her blue Honda at a gas station, she saw a person dressed as a rabbit grab a young girl out of nearby...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061445886
• ISBN13: 9780061445880
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Personally Did not Enjoy

I personally did not enjoy this story. The characters and world build-up is jarring and not fluid. I ended up putting it down after the first few chapters because I simply was not enjoying it.

Really great read

Third book I've read by this author, and yet again I was most pleased. Definitely would recommend

A heartbreaking and haunting masterpiece

Rhonda Farr, 23 years old and on her way to a job interview in her Vermont hometown of Pike's Crossing, stops at Pat's Mini Mart ostensibly to fill her gas tank. In actuality, she is hoping to run into Peter, the childhood friend she has always loved. Peter works in Pat's garage, and seeing him there beats having to endure the frustrating experience of viewing him in the bosom of his happy family, including his wife, Tock, and his little girl, Suzy. At the gas pump, though, Pat's husband Jim informs Rhonda that Peter took the day off. Trudy Florucci pulls up to the store, leaving her second-grade daughter, Ernie, in the car listening to music. Jim runs into the store to wait on Trudy. As her gas tank fills, Rhonda nervously anticipates her job interview. She's distracted when a gold Volkswagen Beetle pulls up; she knows the vehicle belongs to Peter's mother-in-law, who continually gloats over how happy Tock is with Peter. Rhonda sinks down into her seat, hoping to remain unnoticed. But then the VW driver door opens and a giant white rabbit steps out. The rabbit hops, jerking its head, and almost appears to be looking at Rhonda with its big plastic eyes. It nods at Rhonda and hops over to Trudy's car, knocking on the window behind which Ernie sits. Ernie smiles at the big rabbit, rolling her window down to touch it. Then she unbuckles her seatbelt, takes the rabbit's paw in her own hand, and walks with it over to the gold VW where she gets into the passenger's seat. Rhonda just gapes as the Volkswagen drives off. Soon, though, Rhonda is explaining to the police why she did nothing as someone in a rabbit suit abducted a little girl. It's hard to explain, even to herself. She would describe herself as a practical, active person who always knows what to do in any situation, but for some reason she had felt mesmerized by the white rabbit. Understandably, Trudy is beside herself. She can't imagine who would take her little girl, or why. She even accuses Rhonda of being involved in the kidnapping. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials search the area while the store's owner efficiently sets up a search center. Rhonda can't help but remember another person in a white rabbit suit, back when she and Peter were younger. Lizzy, Peter's sister and Rhonda's best friend, was also there. Peter and Lizzy's father, Daniel, had been the one in the suit, helping the children collect Easter eggs. But that was before the kids put on the play "Peter Pan" and Daniel mysteriously vanished, followed years later by Lizzy. Although Lizzy then sent postcards home to tell her mother and brother that she had joined her father, questions about their abrupt disappearances and Lizzy's frequent odd behavior have niggled away at Rhonda for years. Now, as she discovers clues that she believes will lead her to Ernie's kidnapper, she also grapples with understanding those long-ago mysteries, even as she strikes up her first true romantic relationship with Warren, Pat's nephew and a

strong suspense thriller

While on her way to a job interview in Pike Crossing, Vermont, Rhonda Farr stops at a gas station. While waiting for service, she sees a mother enter a convenience store while her daughter Ernestine talks to a white rabbit who came up to the car. Mesmerized Rhonda freezes while the rabbit takes the little girl with him into another vehicle and drives away. Rhonda snaps out of her paralysis and tells the cops what she witnessed. Pat of Pat's Mini market where the abduction took place sets up in the store a center to coordinate people who want to find the girl. They get residents to look for her and hang up missing posters; volunteers man tip hotline phones. Rhonda tells her friend Peter what happened; he informs her that he was incommunicado when the rabbit did his deed. The evidence points to Peter as the kidnapper; no matter how hard she tries to reach him, Peter refuses to confide in Rhonda until she gives up on him and goes to the cops. That proves the catalyst for all hell to break loose with Rhonda's life in jeopardy. As with PROMISE NOT TO TELL, Jennifer McMahon provides a strong suspense thriller with realistic characters whom readers will feel they know. Running parallel with the present investigation are flashbacks to the disappearance of the father of Rhonda's best friend Lizzie in 1993 after wearing a rabbit's costume and three yeas after that Lizzie. The present crime brings back the as filtered through Rhonda's memories. ISLAND OF LOST GIRL is a tense mystery that grips audience from the initial appearance of the rabbit and never lets go until the readers feels they entered the rabbit's hole. Harriet Klausner

Jennifer McMahon is a Genius!

I was not aware that this book had come out and when I saw it at Borders I immediately scooped it up. After being thoroughly entranced with Ms. McMahon's previous effort "Promise Not to Tell", I knew I would love this book as well. She has such a knack for fluid story telling, extremely well fleshed out characters and an uncanny ability of being able to draw you in from word one. Her subject matter is disturbing but that's life as we know it. This is a little slip of a book, only 255 pages but it is jam packed with suspense, atmosphere and plot twists that are sometimes slowly revealed and sometimes thrown right in your face. Had I the time I would have devoured this book in one sitting. I will again be waiting eagerly for the next Jennifer McMahon. Do not miss this author.

Fantastic follow-up

I loved Promise Not to Tell, so I 've been looking forward to this book ever since I heard it was coming out. At the same time, I was a little worried about a letdown, that it wouldn't live up to the first book. No worries! Island of Lost Girls does not disappoint! If anything, I liked it even more. Like Promise Not to Tell, it takes place in Vermont, and is about a woman who has to revisit her past when she's involved in a crime in the present. This time, the woman is Rhonda, a recent college graduate still hung up on her childhood sweetheart, Peter (who's married and has an adorable daughter), and the crime is a very weird abduction that Rhonda is the only witness to. She gets involved in the investigation, and starts thinking back to mysteries of her own childhood, when she, Peter, his sister Lizzy, and a feisty girl named Tock were inseparable. Once again, McMahon does an incredible job building suspense and keeping you guessing, while also creating believable, moving characters and relationships in an almost gothic atmosphere. She explores notions of bad choices, evil, and forgiveness in a heartbreaking, but ultimately hopeful way. I can't wait for the next book!

5-star read full of suspense and heartbreak

Rhonda Farr is 23 and on her way to a job interview. Rhonda is sitting in her car outside Pat's Mini Mart in Pike's Crossing, waiting to fill her car up with gas. Trudy Florucci pulls up and runs inside the Mini Mart, leaving the motor running and Ernie, her little girl in the car. A gold-colored VW pulls into Pat's Mini Mart, driven by a large white rabbit. Before Rhonda can get over her shock at seeing a rabbit driving the VW, Ernie has jumped out of her mother's car and rode off with the rabbit. Rhonda is guilt ridden because the child has disappeared, and she took no action whatsoever to try and stop the abduction. Pat, the owner of Pat's Mini Mart, has set up a "Find Ernie Headquarters." Rhonda is one of the volunteers. The disappearance of Ernie has caused Rhonda to take a trip back to her childhood and memories of Peter, Lizzy and Tock, her childhood friends. The group built a stage and produced Peter Pan. Rhonda's family and the families of her friends gathered for social activities. Thinking of these times reminds Rhonda of many mysteries in the past. The disappearance of Peter's father, as well as that of his sister Lizzy, is a memory Rhonda dwells on. Island of Lost Girls is a book full of suspense and heartbreak. It is also a peek into the wonderful imagination of children and their private little world. The ending is shocking, sad and happy, too. I would highly recommend this book. Armchair Interviews agrees.