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Stealing Jenny Ellen Gable Books

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Stealing Jenny Ellen Gable Books

This is the second book by Ellen Gable that I have read in the last year it is also the fourth by Full Quiver Publishing. Full Quiver Publishing has a tag line of their website of "Theology of the Body Fiction", and after reading these four books published by them I greatly appreciate that goal. This book was definitely a page turner. I could hardly put this book down. This may have only been the second book by Ellen that I have read but it will not be the last!

I am having a hard time classifying this novel. It is part crime fiction and police procedural. It is part Christian fiction as it revolves around a family of great faith going through a very hard time. I would put it in the genre of realistic fiction. Much Like Madeleine L'Engle's Austin Family chronicles. In fact, this book could be a sort of next generation for some of those books. It sort of feels like reading about Vicki Austin's children or grandchildren.

As a husband, as a father it was hard to read this story. The description of the book is: "After three heartbreaking miscarriages, Tom and Jenny Callahan are happily anticipating the birth of their sixth child. A neighbor, however, is secretly hatching a sinister plot which will find Jenny and her unborn baby fighting for their lives.". It is a very intense read. The story is told from the perspective of a number of characters. Jenny Callagan a young mother expecting her 6th child, and very excited after three miscarriages. Her husband, Tom. Denise Kramer a divorcee who cannot conceive a child on her own. Sargent Romano of the Ontario provincial police. But the story is not linear, each of the main characters remembers back, to earlier times in their lives. To some of the events and situations that have brought them to this time. Some of those memories are good, and some not so good. Each of the characters have made mistakes, and most have learned from them.

As can be guessed by the title and description Jenny is kidnapped just days before a planned C-section because of complications in her pregnancy. The play moves at a quick pace, and even with the 'flash back' moments the story proceeds well. The main story takes place over a few days. But the flashbacks encompass almost two decades of time. The main story is set just outside Ottawa, and some of the flashbacks are to Tom's time in Kingston, while at Queen's University. Having grown up in Kingston, and spent a lot of time in Ottawa playing sports, it was so easy to picture the settings and places in this story. But that also made the story hard thinking about my family, my friends, or my own mistakes when I was younger.

The story has a decidedly Christian feel, and Tom and Jenny are Catholic and faith is very important to them. The parish priest makes a few appearances, and there is mention of mass and continual adoration taking place until Jenny is found. There are memories of bullying in high school. And there is also premarital sex, talk about abortion, and for one character an actual abortion. There is a lot in this book that would make for great discussion material with older teens and young adults. Or it can be read as a crime thriller by just about anyone who enjoys the genre.

This book was an excellent read. It was hard to put down. It draws attention to many real life issues. And it places them in a frame work that will make you think. I am glad I gave this book a read and think you will be if you give it a go!


Tags : Amazon.com: Stealing Jenny (9780973673623): Ellen Gable: Books,Ellen Gable,Stealing Jenny,Full Quiver Publishing,0973673621,Literature & Fiction Contemporary,Fiction - Religious,Fiction Religious,FictionChristian - Suspense,FictionMystery & Detective - Police Procedural,FictionThrillers - Crime,Religious & spiritual fiction,Religious - General,religious inspirational; mystery thriller suspense; pro-life suspense; kidnapping crime fiction; Women's Christian Fiction; Catholic fiction

Stealing Jenny Ellen Gable Books Reviews

This is a Catholic based fictional crime thriller. The perp, Denise, is a mentally disturbed divorced woman who cannot conceive children of her own. She is obsessed with having a baby to nurture and care for. She deeply resents other women who are pregnant or have babies.

Denise contrives a plan to steal a baby and pass it off as her own. Her plan will probably necessitate the killing of the mother of the baby. She obtains the necessary false identity documentation that she will need when she disappears as Denise and emerges as a new mother in a new location. She tells everyone that she is pregnant through in vitro, and even manages to look the part.

Denise discovers Jenny who is a young pregnant woman who takes her pet to the vet clinic where Denise works. Denise knows that Jenny is already the mother of 5 children. How unfair is that? Jenny daily walks her daughters to and from the school bus stop that just happens to be located across the street from Denise's house. Denise stalks Jenny and puts her plan, to take Jenny's baby, into action. The story is very graphic in places, and the reader may feel sadness, indignation, horror and perhaps other emotions as each character goes through their emotional turmoil.

The fictional tale takes the reader on the emotional journey through Jenny's kidnapping and the torturous times that she and her family endure through Denise's madness. There are flashbacks that lets the reader know something about the previous lives of the family including the courtship of Jenny and her husband. This is a work of fiction; however, in the late 1980s a real life crime took place in Albuquerque, NM that had similarities to this book. In that case there was not a happy ending. The baby; however, did survive. This was a good book.....not a great book.
So, where does one begin with Stealing Jenny?

The setup is quick and painless, and the characters are established in short order. Jenny Callahan has an interesting life. She has five children, with one due in a week. She and her husband have no money problems, only the issues that come with five children. They're in a nice, loving relationship, where they're biggest problem is her mother-in-law.

Then Jenny gets kidnapped by a total psycho who wants her child for herself, and we're off to the races.

Stealing Jenny is actually not a bad thriller. It's tightly written, nice and tense, complete with character studies, personal histories, and one of the better bad guys I've seen in a while. There isn't a single car chase or fight scene, but the story doesn't suffer, even though it decidedly lacks the action usually stuff into the standard thriller.

I like this one for several reasons. One, it has a nice, well-developed family, with its own quirks, personality traits, and history. We see a neat character arc in Jenny's relationship with her high school love, the development as the antagonist and how she got that way, and even the detective has her own distinctive voice. The villain also has her own character arc of evil.

Now, one of the things you have to understand is that in my household, my father always had a soft spot for David Mahmet. We would never keep one of his films, but we always appreciated them. And my father always loved House of Games because the con man in question -- played elegantly by Joe Mantegna -- was an unrepentant bastard right up to the end. It's not something we see much anymore.

One of the nice things about this book is the primary antagonist, Denise. As noted, Denise has kidnapped Jenny for the sole purpose of stealing her unborn child. Unable to conceive, instead of adopting, Denise figures, quite simply, that Jenny has more than her fair share of children, and that Denise *deserves* the one Jenny is carrying.

Now, is Denise insane? Maybe. Is she creepy as Hell? Yup. She is also stone cold evil. Nothing matters but herself. When kidnapping Jenny, she tied Jenny's toddler to a sign post with a dog collar and leash, and I was half expecting her to kill him if she heard him crying for a few more seconds. She's not overly violent, there are no schemes to take over the world, though diabolical is a mild way to describe this creature from the black lagoon. Total nut job? Maybe. Evil? Hell yes. I've seen vampires that were less of a blood-sucking monster than Denise.

And even though the author, Ellen Gable, is one of the key members of the Catholic Writers Guild, there is no touchy-feely ending at the end of the book. Is there a moral to the story? I guess you can read one into it -- most of the reviews online refer to it as a "pro-life" novel, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. It's not preachy or pushy, or particularly loud in its beliefs. The family is Catholic, but they're not saints, and when faced with an implacable evil, they must all come together or fail miserably. Is there forgiveness and redemption? After a fashion.

At the end of the day, this was a solid thriller, up there with anything written by Jeffery Deaver or Lee Child.
This is the second book by Ellen Gable that I have read in the last year it is also the fourth by Full Quiver Publishing. Full Quiver Publishing has a tag line of their website of "Theology of the Body Fiction", and after reading these four books published by them I greatly appreciate that goal. This book was definitely a page turner. I could hardly put this book down. This may have only been the second book by Ellen that I have read but it will not be the last!

I am having a hard time classifying this novel. It is part crime fiction and police procedural. It is part Christian fiction as it revolves around a family of great faith going through a very hard time. I would put it in the genre of realistic fiction. Much Like Madeleine L'Engle's Austin Family chronicles. In fact, this book could be a sort of next generation for some of those books. It sort of feels like reading about Vicki Austin's children or grandchildren.

As a husband, as a father it was hard to read this story. The description of the book is "After three heartbreaking miscarriages, Tom and Jenny Callahan are happily anticipating the birth of their sixth child. A neighbor, however, is secretly hatching a sinister plot which will find Jenny and her unborn baby fighting for their lives.". It is a very intense read. The story is told from the perspective of a number of characters. Jenny Callagan a young mother expecting her 6th child, and very excited after three miscarriages. Her husband, Tom. Denise Kramer a divorcee who cannot conceive a child on her own. Sargent Romano of the Ontario provincial police. But the story is not linear, each of the main characters remembers back, to earlier times in their lives. To some of the events and situations that have brought them to this time. Some of those memories are good, and some not so good. Each of the characters have made mistakes, and most have learned from them.

As can be guessed by the title and description Jenny is kidnapped just days before a planned C-section because of complications in her pregnancy. The play moves at a quick pace, and even with the 'flash back' moments the story proceeds well. The main story takes place over a few days. But the flashbacks encompass almost two decades of time. The main story is set just outside Ottawa, and some of the flashbacks are to Tom's time in Kingston, while at Queen's University. Having grown up in Kingston, and spent a lot of time in Ottawa playing sports, it was so easy to picture the settings and places in this story. But that also made the story hard thinking about my family, my friends, or my own mistakes when I was younger.

The story has a decidedly Christian feel, and Tom and Jenny are Catholic and faith is very important to them. The parish priest makes a few appearances, and there is mention of mass and continual adoration taking place until Jenny is found. There are memories of bullying in high school. And there is also premarital sex, talk about abortion, and for one character an actual abortion. There is a lot in this book that would make for great discussion material with older teens and young adults. Or it can be read as a crime thriller by just about anyone who enjoys the genre.

This book was an excellent read. It was hard to put down. It draws attention to many real life issues. And it places them in a frame work that will make you think. I am glad I gave this book a read and think you will be if you give it a go!