“Mofina expertly weaves together an anguishing story of a family’s trauma with a propulsive, twisty thriller that pays off to the very last page.”—Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author.
A missing child is every parent’s worst nightmare. For journalist Corina Corado, it’s a terrifying reality. When six-year-old Gabriel vanishes from Central Park, his mother, news anchor Corina Corado, is desperate for answers. Who would take her son—and why? Detectives suspect there’s a connection to the barrage of hate mail Corina’s received over the years. In her line of work, it’s not unusual for agitated conspiracy theorists to send messages that threaten violence…or worse. But as the investigation deepens, the secrets that Corina, her husband, Robert, and her stepdaughter, Charlotte, have kept start to unravel. As the truth behind Gabriel’s disappearance emerges, Corina must race the clock to track down her missing child…before paying the ultimate price.
Rick Mofina is a former journalist who has interviewed murderers on death row in Montana and Texas, flown over L.A. with the LAPD and patrolled with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police near the Arctic. He's also reported from the Caribbean, Africa and Kuwait's border with Iraq. His true-crime freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, The Telegraph (London, U.K.), Reader’s Digest, Penthouse, Marie Claire and The South China Morning Post, (Hong Kong). He has written more than 20 crime fiction thrillers that have been published in nearly 30 countries.
His work has been praised by James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver, Louise Penny, Sandra Brown, James Rollins, Lisa Unger, Brad Thor, Nick Stone, David Morrell, Allison Brennan, Heather Graham, Linwood Barclay, Peter Robinson, Håkan Nesser and Kay Hooper.
The Crime Writers of Canada, The International Thriller Writers and The Private Eye Writers of America have listed his titles among the best in crime fiction. As a two-time winner of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award, a four-time Thriller Award finalist and a two-time Shamus Award finalist, the Library Journal calls him, “One of the best thriller writers in the business.”
When you go from reporting the news to becoming the news!
Corina Corado has it all. An impressive career as a news journalist for a prominent broadcasting company in New York. On the home front, she’s happily married to Robert, with step-daughter Charlotte and an adopted son Gabriel. Everything she ever wanted!
With Corina busy at work and Robert stuck in a meeting out of state, she turns to Charlotte to pick Gabriel up from school.
It only takes a moment…
A detour on the way home through Central Park, Charlotte deep into her phone texting her secret boyfriend and…
POOF! Gabriel is gone!
Now it’s a race against time to find Gabriel. With the family in the spotlight their lives are about to be on full display! How long can they keep their secrets from each other…and the police!?
Everyone has something to hide. And the fallout may cost Gabriel his life!
Rick Mofina is one of my favorite authors! An automatic read when I see a new release! As always I’m on the edge of my seat and putting everything on hold as I tear through one of his books!
While I did guess the who, I was kept in the dark on the why and how right to the end!
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA
When six-year-old Gabriel vanishes from Central Park, his mother, news anchor Corina Corado, is desperate for answers. Who would take her son—and why?
Detectives suspect there’s a connection to the barrage of hate mail Corina’s received over the years. In her line of work, it’s not unusual for agitated conspiracy theorists to send messages that threaten violence…or worse. But as the investigation deepens, the secrets that Corina, her husband, Robert, and her stepdaughter, Charlotte, have kept start to unravel.
As the truth behind Gabriel’s disappearance emerges, Corina must race the clock to track down her missing child…before paying the ultimate price.
Like a true-crime series in written form, Someone Saw Something felt utterly ripped from the headlines. A thriller with a strong police procedural edge, it grabbed my attention right from the start (even though it did slow down significantly in the middle). Just the same, the realistic actions of the police force and the heart-wrenching emotions at play with Corina and her family meant a plot that came together with a genuine feel.
With a finely layered storyline that came complete with multiple subplots and a multitude of characters, it reminded me of some of the books I’ve read by Charlie Donlea in the past. Not so much because of the topic, but due to how the story unfolded. As secret after secret was revealed, the meandering plot took me across six years and two continents, leading to some truths that seemed to explode on the page. I’m not quite sure how Mofina managed it, but it was expertly organized and extremely well-written. There must’ve been some serious outlines.
As for the characters, while I relished the family dynamics, sadly the individuals themselves were somewhat lacking. A little one-dimensional and dry, I wasn’t drawn to any of them despite the circumstances. That being said, as the plot picked up pace with the page count, I found my fingers flying as I prayed that Gabriel would come out of the predicament okay.
There were, however, a few other teeny, tiny flies in the ointment as well. With a character list that could counter a phone book and Corina’s extensive backstory which added little to the plot, much of the book could’ve done with a bit of extra editing, in my opinion. But then, I still finished in just under twenty-four hours, so perhaps this is just me searching for perfection.
Done and dusted, the omniscient perspective, masses of red herrings and original-ish premise led for quite the good time. And as for the cat-and-mouse chase… Well, I wouldn’t have changed much given the chance. Taut and intense, the climax played out as though in a film. In fact, I’m crossing my fingers that Someone Saw Something soon ends up in a theater near me. All in all, considering that this is the first book by Mofina that I’ve read, I’m now eager to try his backlist ASAP. Rating of 4 stars.
Thank you to Rick Mofina, MIRA, HTP Books and NetGalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: April 30, 2024
Trigger warning: kidnapping, blackmail, suicide attempt, mention of: sexual assault, death of a child
Six-year-old Gabrial vanishes from Central Park one day after school. His mom, a news anchor, is desperate for answers.
Detectives think that there is a tie to the hate mail his mom has been receiving. But as the investigation deepens, and secrets the family holds begin to come out, could it have been something different?
Review:
This book started right away with the action with Gabriel being kidnapped. However, then the plot seemed to almost come to a screeching halt and things really slowed down. I felt the middle of this book dragged a lot and really could have been edited down a lot. It was suspenseful, but I found myself getting lost in minute details that I felt didn’t really add to the story. There were also a lot of characters, and it was hard to keep track of who was who. However, as things went on, and I started understanding who everyone was, I started to really enjoy the reveals that came out about all the characters along the way. It seemed that with each chapter there was a twist and revelation about one of the characters. The family dynamics that were present in this book were relatable even though the characters weren’t. I think that in the end things came together nicely and all the questions were answered satisfactorily.
Overall a solid read, but there's quite a bit of repetition which made the book feel so much longer than it should have. Intriguing premise and resolution though, so definitely worth reading.
Corina Corado is a television news journalist (think CNN) and has traveled the world reporting on various events. She is married to Robert, an engineer, who came to the marriage with his daughter Charlotte, and the couple adopted Gabriel. Corina is stuck at work and Robert is on a business trip, so Corina enlists Charlotte to pick 6-year-old Gabriel up from school. The two walk home through Central Park, Charlotte takes her eyes off of Gabriel for a minute to answer a text, and Gabriel disappears. What happened to the child? As the investigation progresses, secrets are revealed--or are these supposed secrets even true?
Despite a somewhat over the top conclusion, this book was really intriguing and kept my interest throughout. It shines a light on just how pervasive rumors and conspiracy theories can be, and how they can fuel people to do frightening things. I did figure out at least part of what happened to Gabriel before it was revealed, but it was still interesting to see the story unfold. The minutiae details of the investigation and the repetition of what happened and what exactly the police were doing to investigate bogged the story down and slowed the pacing.
Overall, this is an intriguing story with a satisfying ending. Rick Mofina's books are creative and original.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
Quite a good mystery here, a mother’s worst nightmare when her six year old son goes missing. Harder still, if that’s even a possibility, she the one who is reporting the news, becomes the story. Horrifying grief, in the spotlight, , right out in the open with nothing private as Corina and her family’s lives are dissected.
So a very good start, though I do think there were one too many happenings. Also, recommend reading this and not listening to the audio, which I felt was over dramatized. Listening to sixteen year old, Charlottes moaning and screeching through the book was not at all to my liking.
Wow! Author Rick Mofina has done it again! A family's worst nightmare! A child disappears while in NY's Central Park. When six year old Gabriel vanishes, his mother, news anchor Corina Corado, is desperate to find answers and her son. As the investigation progresses secrets begin to unravel, with many twists and turns, leading to a thrilling conclusion. An edge of your seat page-turner!
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
This is another solid thriller from Rick Mofina. A missing child, a news reporter mother and high-profile father. Adoption, conspiracy theories and workplace sexual harassment. This novel is full of interesting plot elements. It also has lots of red herrings, interconnected plot twists, and a fast-paced ending. The chapters are short and the writing crisp. My only quibble is that I thought the book could have been a bit shorter as it did slow down in the middle.
Overall, another good thriller escape read by this author.
Thanks to the publisher for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
This new-to-me author examines a parent’s worst nightmare - a missing child. It’s intense, heart-wrenching, harrowing, and full of secrets and mistrust; everything you’d expect it to be…in spades! Mofina singlehandedly put himself on my auto-read list.
I could feel the exasperation as Corina Corado’s life was turned upside down. She’s used to being one half of a power couple, in control and able to throw money at anything she can’t fix herself. This time it’s different. Really different. She’s used to being on the other side of an investigation as a journalist, now she has to sit back and ‘do nothing.’ It’s not easy for someone who likes to have control. Mofina was able to make me feel the panic and paranoia. What a week!
The plot was well organized and the main focus on the investigation meant that I was put on full alert looking for motives and perpetrators. Mofina ramped up the tension with the inclusion of threatening messages and hate mail. The mystery was fuelled with the revelation of the Corado’s hidden secrets. I truly felt the clock ticking, the race against time, as all resources were pulled to find six year old Gabriel Corado. Central Park is vast and time is tunning out - Mofina made sure I felt the pressure, too.
The examination of family dynamics and the pressure of a missing child was executed perfectly. I did struggle with the large cast of characters and the pacing, but I’d already been hooked and was willing to bear with it. This is just a personal preference and no bearing on the quality of the author’s work.
I will be on the look out for another pacey read by this author!
I was gifted this copy By Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. The stolen child bit has been written so many times and I found this one just didn’t live up to some of the others I’ve read. This book lacked authenticity and sincerity. The characters’ reactions were too OTT sometimes and the audio performance only highlighted the drama. For me, it was a turn off and I found it difficult to emotionally connect to the story.
On a plus note, the plot had many twists with various tangents regarding whodunit. I certainly wasn’t able to guess the ending. For readers who like adrenaline thrillers, this plot had a bit of that going on, particularly towards the end.
It’s a regular day until Corina asks her teenage daughter to pick up her little brother from school. Their dad, Robert, was on a late flight and Corina needed to get some things finished at work. Charlotte is annoyed at having to pick her brother Gabriel up, but he is so excited about an airplane he made that she agrees to take him through Central Park on their way home.
Unfortunately, only one of them made it home. Charlotte was texting with her boyfriend when Gabriel’s plane flies over a hill. He runs to get it, then never comes back. Charlotte searches everywhere but soon realizes her six-year-old brother is gone…and it’s her fault. If only she hadn’t been on her phone, if only she’d been paying attention, maybe Gabriel would’ve been fine. Her parents are understandably angry with her, but they push that aside to begin working with the NYPD on finding their son.
This book started slow, even though it shouldn’t have, as the abduction is one of the first things that happened. It did get better as it went along, but more and more characters kept coming out - which I get, it adds to the number of suspects, but by the end of the book, there were over a dozen random characters who could be suspects. Corina is a well-known international journalist, and has definitely had her share of threats in the past. Is this someone with a grudge against her, or is this just a random kidnapping?
The story was pretty suspenseful, not only with wanting to find out what happens to Gabriel, but with many chapters ending with shocking revelations about our main characters. This is quite a slow read, and perhaps didn’t need to be as long as it was (and with that many characters), but overall it was a good book. 3.5 stars, rounded up!
(Thank you to MIRA, Rick Mofina and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on April 30, 2024.)
A twisty, layered thriller about a missing child, the mysterious circumstances surrounding his adoption and who is behind his kidnapping. Great on audio and fast-paced, this was an entertaining read sure to delight fans of authors like Linwood Barclay.
Wow. Someone Saw Something was truly a masterpiece of interweaving and well developed storylines that was nothing short of amazing. I cannot remember ever reading a novel that was so well written that I could picture scenes better than if it played out in a movie. This felt real.
The layers and layers of Someone Saw Something peeled back like an onion and left the reader not wanting to make claims on what they think happened. This book allowed me to slow down and truly enjoy the chapters rather than rushing to finish. Mofina expertly introduced new characters as if they’d been there all along, creating a seam-less storyline without the ups and downs and curveballs other books consistently produce. Every single character belonged and without excess/useless information, could’ve branched off as the star in their depiction of this story.
Absolutely the best and most well written book I’ve ever read- and at approximately 5-8 books a week, I’ve seen a lot. Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this advanced readers copy!
A family is put into complete turmoil when their 6-year-old son disappears while he is being watched by his sister in the park. The mother is a famous news reporter and uses her entire network of connections to try to find the boy. Meanwhile, all sorts of theories are being presented, some blaming the family for the disappearance. This was wrought with suspense and there was abundance of possible suspects who could have committed this crime. I thoroughly enjoyed this and would recommend it to fans of Alafair Burke and Joanna Schaffhausen.
Many thanks to Netgalley, Edelweiss, MIRA and Rick Mofina for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
‘And then her child died due entirely to her own stupid actions.’ If the book had ended that way, I would have laughed my ass off. It would have been the best ending EVER. I understand that books need characters who make bad choices and stupid decisions, or else there would be no plot. But to have every character make stupid bad decisions every time? It’s too much. Mom: tv news reporter who thinks she can solve crime better than the police. Immediately tells reporters what the police have just told her. Dad: too stupid to realize he’s been rufied. Daughter: emo teen, so maybe her constant wailing about how it’s all her fault and her parents hate her is a bit understandable, but fairly soon into the book, I was commenting out loud: yes, it is your fault and they do hate you. D’s boyfriend: a pedo. Lives at home with mom and drives Uber; but thinks he’s better suited to solve this crime than the police. The Police: why did they not post an officer on the door? The number of times Mom just ran out before they could stop her was unbelievable, and everyone in the household snuck out at least once. Why did they share info with Mom, when they knew she was going to immediately share it with media? Conspiracy-theory flat-earthers: okay, that one speaks for itself.
Six-year-old Gabriel Tanner is walking home from school with his older sister through New York City's Central Park. He tries out a toy airplane he made and goes to retrieve it up a hill and behind some thick bushes. Charlotte is texting on her phone with her older boyfriend, but soon realizes Gabriel is missing. There are many suspects in his abduction. Gabriel's mom is well-known journalist Corina Corado whose international reporting has gained her many enemies. However, Corina's husband has made his share of enemies, too, in his career as a Forensic Engineer working on a controversial project.
This is a fast-paced thriller and is one of those stories where all the main characters are keeping secrets, so many of them look suspicious. I saw through most of the red herrings and caught onto the clues about halfway through the story about who was behind Gabriel's disappearance. However, I was still in suspense over what would happen and what the motive was for taking him. I had to suspend disbelief a few times, but this is an entertaining book that shows both the good and bad sides to the power of the media.
I received an advance copy of this ebook at no cost from NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Mira. My review is voluntary and unbiased.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC!
When Corina’s son goes missing in Central Park walking home after school with his sister, detectives are on a race against the clock to get him back. Corina is a news anchor who has been targeted before so the list of suspects is potentially a long one.
This book would make a great action movie. I would have enjoyed to see more from Gabriel’s perspective but I really did enjoy the ending!
I can’t believe I even finished this book, I should have given up. Too back and forth, all over the place. I usually love this author, not this time. First Mofina book I did not like. Way too slow, it was a bad Law and Order episode.
This was….horrible. Absolutely horrible. If I had been reading it, I would have quit. Because I was listening to the audiobook, I just sped it up and listened in the background. This novel is all 👏🏻 over 👏🏻 the 👏🏻 place. There are Russian spies, flat Earth conspiracy theorists, #metoo….you name it, and you can probably find it here. There is SO MUCH repetition and it drags on seemingly forever. Hard pass 👋🏻
*slight spoiler* I can’t think of one redeeming quality except that the son is unharmed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I gulped this book. Short chapters, super fast pacing with constant reveals made it hard to put down. There were a couple of moments where it dragged a touch or the dialogue was a bit stilted, but overall a really engaging and satisfying read. I will definitely read others by this author.
Six year old Gabriel goes missing when his 16-year-old sister Charlotte walk through Central Park on his way home from school. Who is to blame for Gabriel’s disappearance? The way Gabriel was adopted? His mom’s job as a reporter? His sisters older love interest? Or his dad with some secrets and a burner phone?
I enjoy Rick Mofina’s books, but it’s been a hot minute since I’ve read any. I was so curious as to what happened to Gabriel!! I love a good family drama. And some unreliable characters that you have no idea who to believe!
It did drag on a bit, and there were quite a few characters to keep track of. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending. But a decent book that had me guessing the entire time.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an eARC. Someone Saw Something is available now.
This was my first book by this author and I finished it in two nights. It caught and held my interest even though at times it was bit unbelievable as to how the mother reacted. She constantly interfered with the investigation and there were no consequences- she was allowed on the scene and contaminated evidence and that was ok. It made me not like her - just a bit.
But still a solid read and I would read more by this author.
Wow, this book was a real page turner! It was fun to follow along with the investigation and to see how Gabriel's disappearance affected Corina, Robert, and Charlotte. Very well plotted and twist filled. You won't be disappointed.
Wow! This book is so much more than the summary of the plot. Full of action. Expertly laid clues! Why have I never read this author before? I just want to devour every book on his extensive list! 5 Stars!
The story went in a direction I wasn't expecting but the clue to the epiphany moment was so repetitive I figured that part of the story out myself. The ending was okay and there was definitely some good action. Okay read
maybe one star is a bit harsh but i really didn’t like it. the entire family was annoying and outright stupid. the mother who was a slut for milking it on air and having to be everywhere where the police was and basically guilt teipping the officers. mam i know this is a horrible situation ur in but damn. the father being a complete dumbass not realizing he got roofied & basically tryna sweep the blackmail situation under the rug. the annoying daughter always screaming crying about how everyone hates and blames her, always making it about herself and then running off to her pedophile. it was infuriating. also the book itself was so repetitive, the mother had the same thoughts or convos at least 3-4 time and each time word for word the same. also the inclusion of that pedophile was kinda scary, since he was actively grooming and had to face no real consequences & got basically away unscathed with a „im going no contact, we good?“
so much happened, so many different povs. it was interesting to „see“ all developments but it was just overwhelming and unstructured at times.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This is a fast-paced, page-turning, missing child mystery. It's an exciting book readers will finish in one night. Thank you Mira and Netgalley for the digital review copy.
I enjoyed this book. There was always something going on. And always something to thing about. Maybe this happened maybe that happened. Was worth reading