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    Never Wave Goodbye: A Novel of Suspense
    Never Wave Goodbye: A Novel of Suspense
    Never Wave Goodbye: A Novel of Suspense
    Audiobook9 hours

    Never Wave Goodbye: A Novel of Suspense

    Written by Doug Magee

    Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    After passing the bittersweet parental milestone of putting her daughter, Sarah, on the bus to sleep-away camp for the first time, Lena Trainor plans to spend the next two weeks fixing all the problems in her marriage. But when a second bus arrives to pick up Sarah for camp, no one seems to know anything about the first bus or its driver.

    Sarah and three other children have been kidnapped, and within hours of the crime the parents receive an e-mail demanding one million dollars. When the specifics of the delivery terms throw suspicion on the parents of two of the abducted children, some of the parents begin to turn on each other, exposing fault lines in already strained marriages and forging new alliances. While the kidnapped children are living their parents' worst nightmare, the police are trying to sort the lies from the truth in conflicting stories and alibis that seem to be constantly changing.

    Deftly weaving the emotional story that pits the parents of the missing campers against the police-and each other-with the fate of the kidnapped children hanging in the balance, Never Wave Goodbye will keep listeners holding their breath until the very end.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 22, 2010
    ISBN9781400187850
    Author

    Doug Magee

    Doug Magee is a photographer, filmmaker, and author of the acclaimed novels Never Wave Goodbye and Darkness All Around. His produced screenplays include Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture and Beyond the Call. He lives in East Harlem with his wife.  

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    Reviews for Never Wave Goodbye

    3.5/5

    32 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      She got on the bus but she never arrived at camp. Where are the children? Who has them and what do they want? The more I read the more I wanted to read. It definitely keeps you in suspense. It also sends a chill down your spine seeing how this could easily happen to anyone's family members. This was an excellent read.
    • 3/5
      Lena Trainor puts her nine year old daughter Sarah on a camp van with some mixed feelings – it is the first time Sarah has been away from home, but Lena is also looking forward to spending some time with her husband David and hoping to fix the cracks in their marriage. When a short time later the real camp van shows up, Lena’s ambivalence quickly turns to horror as she realizes her daughter has been kidnapped. Also taken in by the kidnapper’s ruse are three other families whose children were also picked up by the fake camp driver.Debut novelist Doug Magee spins out his story of what follows – the police investigation, the ransom demand, the FBI involvement – along with some glimpses into the parents’ marriages and psychological states. Early on, the reader is clued in that the kidnapping may not be all that it seems…and in fact, there is a twist at the end.I wanted to love this book. I thought its premise was great – what worse scenario could a parent imagine than handing over their child to someone who wishes to hold them captive? But, Magee’s first effort fell flat for me in large part because I never felt like I got inside the characters’ heads. Magee chose to write his novel from an omniscient point of view – a difficult venture for even the most talented author – and this choice, I believe, was why I felt removed from the characters. I wanted to feel the agony of the parents, the fears of the children, the evil mindset of the perpetrators…but instead, I felt almost nothing from them. Instead of riveting dialogue and fast paced action, this story is pretty much told to the reader as though it were a news report.Magee’s background as a screenwriter might explain the narrative flow. I could actually see this novel being made into a movie. I have read a few screenplays in my life, and the book definitely had the feel of a movie (as though the action was being directed by a producer). Perhaps it was this sense of being led through the story rather than living it which made me feel let down.I’m sorry I won’t be able to recommend Never Wave Goodbye, although some bloggers have really enjoyed it.
    • 3/5
      Sarah's going off to camp for the first time and is pretty excited. Her best friend Linda's going too, and it should be a great time. Lena, Sarah's mom, isn't as excited. It's Sarah's first time away from home and she's a little nervous and sad. But the camp counselor picks her up and everything seems great.Until the real camp bus comes about half an hour later.Sarah, Linda and two other kids have been kidnapped.I got this book because it sounded like a Harlan Coben book. And, while definitely enjoyable to read, it's nowhere near Harlan Coben quality. But this is Doug Magee's first book, and I'm definitely willing to give him another try.My problems with the book involve an unrealistic ending (no, I don't think there's a psychic-type link between moms and their kids, although I don't have kids so I could be wrong about this) and the fact that the grownups we spend the most time with (Lena and her husband David and Linda's parents) are fairly unlikable. Lena, in particular, is kind of a bitch, I thought.But these are minor complaints and this book was definitely fun.
    • 4/5
      As a parent, it was always hard when I let my children 'go away' to overnight sleepovers the first few times, let alone weekend tournaments and across the country meets. Doug Magee has come up with a chilling premise for his first novel Never Wave Goodbye.What if you put your child on the van for camp, waved goodbye....and then the real van came.........Four families put their nine and ten year olds on the van for a two week stay at Camp Arno. JD, the personable driver, seems great with the kids. No bells go off with any of the parents. JD delivers the kids not to camp but to his partner Mr. Everett and from there - they disappear - JD is not even privy to where they're headed. A ransom email for one million dollars is delivered to all four sets of parents. Magee teases us, slowly revealing each parent's secrets, flaws and shortcomings through small hints and foreshadowing. Surely none of them could have anything to do with the crime - not their own child? Lena Trainor provides the most frequent point of view for the parents. Out of all the parents, we come to know and empathize with her the most. Her daughter Sarah becomes the 'leader' of the kidnapped children. I was intrigued by these chapters and would have almost liked to see a bit more focus on them. The kidnappers and their point of view was chilling.Much of the focal point is on the interaction between the parents of each child and each other. Magee has captured and portrayed the pain, anguish and feelings of parents put in a situation that seems inconceivable. There were a few inconsistencies that I found a bit jarring. I liked Lena up until page 129 when she argues about one family offering to part of another family's part of the ransom. It seemed out of character with her earlier actions and feelings about getting the children back at any cost. And this one is just a little complaint - I doubt there are many 10 year olds who know how to use Facebook but not how to email. Never Wave Goodbye is full of twists and turns that build tension and will have you suspecting almost everyone, including one of the police, until the end. A strong debut novel and a great page turning read - I look forward to Magees's next novel.
    • 5/5
      Lena Trainor is full of emotions as she puts her nine-year-old daughter, Sarah, on a bus to camp for the first time. She’s nervous and anxious for her daughter, but her mind is also on her relationship with her husband. She’s so unfocused that she really doesn’t pay much attention to the camp counselor who picks up Sarah. Until a few minutes later when the real bus shows up.She hurridly begins to call the parents of the other children to be picked up. A total of four children were abducted, including Linda, Sarah’s good friend; Franklin, the son of a local minister; and Tommy, the son of a local contractor. Within a few hours the parents all receive an email, demanding a $1,000,000 ransom.When the FBI is called in, secrets are revealed, causing conflict within and between the families. No one knows who to trust, they simply want their child back. When the 24-hour mark passes, they begin to wonder if they will ever see their children again.I simply cannot believe this is Magee’s first novel. He reveals a story that is both captivating and chilling. Losing one’s child is a parents worst nightmare, but the fact that these parents literally (although unwittingly) handed their children over to their abductors compounds it tremendously. As a parent myself, I couldn’t help but feel the hurt, guilt, and anguish the parents were feeling. It probably doesn’t help that my son’s away at camp now, right? Never Wave Goodbye is not only a tale of suspense, but a study in the human condition, in how well one stands up to such a catastrophic event, seen from not only the parents’ eyes but the of the children as well.My only complaints were very minor. First, the vehicle used to abduct the children was described several times as being a camp van, but the cover clearly shows a school bus. I know that oftentimes authors don’t have much say in what their cover looks like, so I don’t blame the author. The second is the maturity of the children. They are all nine years old, some from pretty affluent families. They seemed be rather naive when it came to technology, such as using a computer, sending email, etc. My oldest son was able to do these things at a fairly early age, well before the age of nine. Again, a very minor complaint, but one I thought I should mention.All issues aside, I do highly recommend this novel. It’s the perfect thriller for a warm summer weekend…just don’t read it while your child is away at camp!