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The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 1,142 ratings · 130 reviews

She spots the masked man in the dark, lonely parking lot--but too late. Grabbed and drugged, Christina is kidnapped and held for ransom. When her family pays, she thinks her ordeal is over. But then she realizes that her family thinks she planned the kidnapping! How will Christina prove her innocence?

Paperback, 320 pages

Published March 1st 2004 by Graphia (first published 1979)

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Jan 28, 2009 Mallory rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

I picked up this book because it had an award on the front. Saying that: I figured out what was going to happen about 1/4 of the way through the book- and then after 1/2 the way through I kept skipping ahead- so I just stopped reading it. I think the reason I couldn't quite get through it is because the author is a 70 something year old woman who is trying to sound like a teenager- she just doesn't capture the emotions, immaturity, insecurities, cares and vernacular of an actual teenager. She tr...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Meghan Myers rated it 3 of 5 stars

My overall impression of the book was that it was interesting but still unrealistic. The writing was a good balance between action and description that made it enjoyable to read. The plot was predictable at times, but was still entertaining and had an interesting spin on classic kidnapping stories.
The biggest issue I had was with the characters. The protagonist, Christina, was whiny, one dimensional, and very concerned with her reputation. Christina was immature and unrealistic and I think she r...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Nenia Campbell rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: x-1970s, ya-baby-ya

And the award, for Worst Parents of the Year, goes to... the Lattimore family! And the prize? A TRIP ABOARD THE NOPE TRAIN TO FUCKTHATVILLE! COME ON, HOP ABOARD!!!

But seriously, is this family on crack? I have trouble believing that anyone could be so willfully stupid. Christina's dad won't let her use her trust fund money to go on a class trip to France because seeing Roman architecture in France goes against his religion. When Christina gets kidnapped and held for ransom, her family assumes th...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Jailine B. rated it 5 of 5 stars

It beggaining of the book I have to say it was slow but like in page 5 you can feel the tension between the the main character Christina(chris)and Zack. Zach is a guy who works at buger place. He marred and no kids. If you get the chance to read the frist hunder pages youll be glad that he dosent. Chris is a junor in high school and is best firends with lorna. One day after coming home to find tape on the door holding back the lock.Shes scared and calls and family memder whos up stairs. Latter t...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Wilson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wilson Mather-Glass
Ms. Romaniuk
Reading/L.A. Book Review 5
16 November 2010

The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore:
When Proving your Innocence Isn’t as Easy as it Looks
It’s quite hard to admit that someone you know could be a criminal. Christina Lattimore, a teenage girl living in Houston, is put in this situation when she realizes that more than one person she’s known for her whole life could’ve been involved in an act that could put them a way for a good amount of time. This act involved kidnapp...more Wilson Mather-Glass
Ms. Romaniuk
Reading/L.A. Book Review 5
16 November 2010

The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore:
When Proving your Innocence Isn’t as Easy as it Looks
It’s quite hard to admit that someone you know could be a criminal. Christina Lattimore, a teenage girl living in Houston, is put in this situation when she realizes that more than one person she’s known for her whole life could’ve been involved in an act that could put them a way for a good amount of time. This act involved kidnapping Christina Lattimore and stealing from Christina’s millionaire grandmother. After a couple days, Christina is found, but is then accused of being involved in this elaborate scheme. While this sounds crazy, proving her innocence is not as easy as it seems. The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore is a mystery/thriller written in the suspenseful words of Joan Lowery Nixon. I would give this book four stars. The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore is a suspenseful book because each chapter leaves you with a question, there is always an unsolved clue, and you gradually gain knowledge from each character.
The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore is a suspenseful book because each chapter leaves you with a question. Many of the last sentences in the chapters leave you confused. In chapter six, Christina talks to Detective York about the kidnapping, and it seems like he believes her enough to make sure she isn’t tried as a criminal. However, the chapter ends with Detective York saying, “They aren’t coming... I advised them not to.”, referring to whether or not Christina’s parents are coming to meet her at the police station. I didn’t understand why she was being treated as a criminal, if she had proved her innocence. York’s reason is later explained, though.
The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore is a suspenseful book, because there is always an unsolved clue. Christina often has a clue in the back of her mind, and knows it’s important, but she can’t seem to figure out what it is. She says, “Something in the back of my head nags me. I’ve had this feeling before. Something isn’t quite right, but I don’t know what it is.” At this point, she is thinking about something that her maid Della had said, but it doesn’t come out for some time, while the suspense builds up.
Another way The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore is a suspenseful book is because you gradually gain knowledge of each character. Sometimes the character themselves directly gives out information, and sometimes it is found out through Christina. When Della confronts Christina on the kidnapping, she gives away information that she did not mean to give out, but is something that would help prove Christina’s innocence a lot more easily. First of all, she asked Christina if she had gotten her typewriter back from the kidnapper’s house. Christina realizes that there is no way, she could’ve known about that unless she was somehow involved. Also, Della really tries to persuade Christina to not work on the case. This helped Christina come to the conclusion that she must’ve had to have a valid reason for trying to persuade her.
The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore is a suspenseful book because each chapter leaves you with a question, there is always an unsolved clue, and you gradually gain knowledge from each character. I realized after writing this review, how much I actually enjoyed reading this book. I did not think it would even be half as good as it was. The main character, Christina, reminds me very much of the main character in the book, Frozen Fire.
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Jul 09, 2011 Emily rated it 1 of 5 stars

I hate it when you have to force yourself to finish reading a book. The plot of the book is revealed in the first 2 chapters which never bodes well. When I first picked up this book I thought it would be more action packed, but I was greatly disappointed. (SPOILER) During all of Christina's "imprisonment" - if you could call it that - consisted of her just sitting in a basement pondering escape and her possible death.

It also didn't help that Christina wasn't very relatable. The only thing I rel...more

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Sep 15, 2008 Cristian rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: students who like suspensful stories

Shelves: book-club

If you like suspensful stories;then I would recommend the book The Kidnapping of Cristina Lattimore. The author Loan Lowery Nixon uses vary good word choises that makes the book more interesting. This book is about a teenager named Cristabel Lattimore, but goes by the name Cristina.Cristina is headed to college in Europe,but before she leaves she gets kidnapped.Will she ever see her parents again?

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Apr 12, 2009 3 Nikki B. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Looking for the perfect mystery book? You don’t need to do any detective work to find out “The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore”by Joan Lowery Nixon is for you. First off, this book has a really good plot. Next, this book keeps you on your toes with all the suspense. The last reason this is the perfect mystery book is that it all connects.
To begin with, this book has a perfect plot. The plot makes sense and you can follow it easily, even when the story gets complicated. In this story, a girl...more

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Jun 04, 2010 Jessica Richins rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-literature

Christina is the daughter of a wealthy pastor and the granddaughter of a CEO of an oil and gas company in Texas. She is kidnapped and held for ransom. Her kidnappers have a plan if things go wrong. Them make it look like Christina is involved and planned her own kidnapping. When she gets home from her ordeal no one believes that she was really kidnapped. So she decides to prove her own innocence.
I thought this book was ok. This was one of my author presentation books, and I had chosen this book...more

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May 20, 2012 Breelle Bailey rated it 3 of 5 stars

The kidnapping of christina Lattimore is about a young hight school girl named Christina who goes to an all girls private school. her family is very wealthy, especially her grandmother. One day, comes home from hanging out with her friends and she is kidnapped. The story is all about christina trying to find out who kidnapped her and why they did so? She tryes to solve the mystery by herself because the police do not believe her and her falimy does not believe her.

This book had a good storyline...more

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Jun 07, 2010 Samantha added it

I actually thought that this was a really cool book to read because i never really read anything like this before. Basically what happens is this girl is kidnapped and stuff, but...it doesnt end there. She is (fortunately) freed. Now you would think that she would go on with her life just coping with the fact that she's been kidnapped. It even goes on where people had the notion that she was trying to steal from her grandmother. I just thought that the story line was interesting because when i f...more

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Mar 11, 2009 Jonathan Pink added it

It's about a girl named Christina Lattimore who wanted to France because her class and friend is going so she asked her religious father and he told her no. Then she went to ask her grandmother named Christabel. She asked Christabel if she can get the money from her college fund and her grandmother said no. After she gets home she noticed that there was tape on the door, she tells Della and her parents but they don't believe her because the tape is gone and nothing is missing. Then she goes to h...more

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Nov 21, 2011 Jasmine rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this book! I was at the book store one time, and I saw the title and cover and the section it was under, and it looked pretty alright. Then I read the back, and that's when it caught my attention, it looked like a good book to read so I bought it.

What I really liked about this book was that it has some mystery in it, and some problems to deal with. I can't really explain it in words, but it was a really good book! It must be really hard to prove yourself innocent when there is so...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Penny rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is definitely meant for younger readers looking for an easy to read mystery. I picked the book up because I remember loving Joan Lowery Nixon when I was in middle school. This book is harder to appreciate as an adult. Christina's kidnapping was hard to believe because all she does is whine about how much her life sucks. The story would have been much more interesting if there was more time spent on her investigation. It was also really easy to figure out who was guilty after reading ab...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Julie McLovin Pham rated it 3 of 5 stars

Although the plot of this book really is interesting, there were a couple flaws throughout the story. For example the ending was really rushed. (SPOILER) We find out that Della's son was the third person of the kidnapping yet in the rest of the book, the author doesn't write about him much. That took away most of the suspense and excitement of finding out who the third person was. Besides that, the rest of the story itself was fun to read and some parts did leave me hanging in suspense and thri...more

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Feb 15, 2012 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was 100 times better than excellent (I don't even think there is a word to describe this book it was that good.) I love the suspense and mystery in this book. The author did a good job of writing the book, making the story very believable and leading you to believe things that weren't really true. To elaborate... it was believable due to the way the story was written. It made sense Christina would try to plan her own kidnapping so she could get ransom money from her grandma and then go...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Jay Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: blog

As seen here: www.youngadultcritic.blogspot.com

The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore looked like a great book from the back cover. A mystery where everyone's a suspect always is good food for the brain. I was just about to check it out from the library when I saw that it had been selected as a Reading Olympics book for 2012. All hope I had for this book disappeared in a puff of smoke. Through past experiences with Reading Olympics books, I have concluded that all RO books MUST have painful, excr...more As seen here: www.youngadultcritic.blogspot.com

The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore looked like a great book from the back cover. A mystery where everyone's a suspect always is good food for the brain. I was just about to check it out from the library when I saw that it had been selected as a Reading Olympics book for 2012. All hope I had for this book disappeared in a puff of smoke. Through past experiences with Reading Olympics books, I have concluded that all RO books MUST have painful, excruciatingly long chapters about nature and friendship and love. I've read enough of RO books to be able to paint a picture in my mind of the librarians who select them. Most of them tend to be senior citizens who work at the local library in their spare time.

Most of the RO books I have read are about a girl's life growing up in some quiet place like a farm and her struggles through life. So you can understand my doubts when I find a book that has been picked for Reading Olympics and has a young girl on the cover. But with kidnapping and crime and suspicion all being placed as key elements, how can author Joan Lowery Dixon sneak in the nature scenes and coming of age fluff?

Lucky for me, I was right. This story was 100% mystery, 0% fluff. I cared about the characters and I wanted Christina's name to be cleared. The ending was satisfying, and no questions are left unanswered. My prediction about the ending was dead wrong, and I like when that happens. However, this book did have some flaws.

The teenage characters, especially Christina, talked in a way that seemed too formal to be realistic. I said before that my prediction was dead wrong, but I felt like the true ending was random. The guilty party was only mentioned a few times in the beginning of the book, and I feel like I was not given a fair chance to solve the mystery. Maybe this is just because I'm terrible at solving mysteries. Also, the conclusion seemed to happen so fast! This was the conversation that took place between to characters towards the end.

A: I trusted you and you were only in it for yourself!
B: Yup! Oh darn you got me!
A: Goodbye!
B: Okay, wish me luck wherever I go!
A: I only wish luck to the people that have to deal with you.

This may be ridiculously simplified, but it's what I took from the conversation. Oh well. Maybe I'll find a better mystery somewhere else.

Grade: C (3 stars)

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Jan 02, 2009 82_little_red rated it 3 of 5 stars

After being kidnapped, Christina has to stay in a basement all alone. The two kidnappers are doing the work, but Christina thinks there is a third person. All the kiddnappers want is money from her grandma and makes her signed a letter. After the cops find Christina, and arrested the kiddnappers, Christina thinks this is all over and the kiddnapers go to jail. But that’s not the case since her family thinks she planned the kidnapping all a long. There is no evidence of her being kidnapped, and...more

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Apr 10, 2008 Sydney rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-recommend

Christina is not your average high school girl. She attends an all-girl school and is very proper. Her class is attending a trip to France and she wants to attend. Her parents object and after asking every member of her family, is turned down each time. After going out with her friend Lorna, she is kidnapped and put in someone's basement. She is then arrested and charged with arranging her own kidnapping. She is horrified. Everyone believes she wanted the ransom money for her trip to France. Her...more

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Mar 15, 2011 Bailey Timmons rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 08, 2009 Kimi-chan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-novels

The beginning was good, and the middle - when Christina was kidnapped and after she was freed - was GREAT...
But the last chapter was horrible.
I mean, I expected this great ending...but no. It ended WAY too quickly, and left too many things open.
Maybe not OPEN, exactly...
But it opened up onto all these plots (of sorts) and then ended them all at one time in a REALLY dumb way.
If it wasn't for that last chapter, I'd DEFINATELY buy it.

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Aug 25, 2012 luhvBOOKS ♫ I'm fighting for you ♫ ♪The battle is already won♪ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Title: The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore

Author: Joan Lowery Nixon

Series: N/A

Rating: ★★★★★

Summary: She spots the masked man in the dark, lonely parking lot--but too late. Grabbed and drugged, Christina is kidnapped and held for ransom. When her family pays, she thinks her ordeal is over. But then she realizes that her family thinks she planned the kidnapping! How will Christina prove her innocence?

Review: I'm used to murder mysteries from Nixon, but she really did impress me with this kidnapp...more

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Mar 09, 2009 T rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: never-finished-reading, can-t-believe-i-read-these-books

Fail. I think I was maybe 6 pages into the book before I found myself flipping through it hoping to find something that would compel me to keep reading. I'm not sure how the heck it won an award--really boring, the main character's kind of annoying, and the story's too transparent. Only picked it up in the first place because a friend was giving away her old childhood books and I thought I'd give it a try. But really-fail.

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May 07, 2013 Khrissy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the book it was a good read. But I do have to say it was pretty slow. And I didn't really like that her parents didn't believe her and though she was making it up. If that was my child I would believe him/her if my child was acting the way she was. Her parents were so quick to call her a liar. And I would stand by my child. They practically told her to shut up and go away. A good example of bad parents

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Dec 16, 2009 Crystal rated it 3 of 5 stars

This one was hard to rate for me. I wasn't very compelled in the beginning- I agree with others here in that the main character didn't sound very teenage-ish. I was also a little bored by the middle with the kidnapping and the whole part where no one believed her over and over. However, for me the book got rather interesting at the end with the third person mystery. I thought that part was very nicely done.

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Feb 22, 2013 Brandie Davis is currently reading it

I like it so far i think it is good.I hope some one else will read this book if they have not already read it.Because i like it so far i would encourage amother person to read it because they might like it and they might think it it is a good book to.It is about this girl who gets kidnaped.I think it is also a sad book because i would hate to see that happen in person.

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Aug 02, 2012 Anne Schmidt rated it 5 of 5 stars

This novel is awesome. At first, you may think that the story is predictable because of obvious reasons, but in the end, you'll be Goshed. It almost seemed that I am one of the characters that helps the protagonist win her game. It's intense! I felt like crying for help for Christina. One of the best novel I've read so far. 2 thumbs up Joan!

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Dec 19, 2011 Tara rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book went by pretty fast! I enjoyed it, I don't think it was amazing, but it kept me wanting to read it because it was pretty interesting. It's like a criminal case, where they try to find out the true story of what happened. I like those kinds of TV shows, so that may be why I enjoyed this book!

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Jan 27, 2013 Kyle C rated it 5 of 5 stars

The book The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore by Joan Nixon. Is a mystery genera you jump in the story fallowing Christina and her friend to a dinner were they always eat but today would be very different. When Christina is on her way home a car is fallowing her when she gets to your house a person jumps out of the bushes and kidnaps her.

This is a good book. You really get to know Christina and you want her to get found.But you are always asking yourself is she going to get found by the police...more

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Dec 14, 2012 Sarah Mckenzie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had to read this book for my English class. I have to say I'm not very impressed. Even though it did have a medal, it seemed not very worthy of one. The end was very in satisfying and didnt make sense. It was a little predictable. Some parts WERE good though. Ill give it a three.

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About Joan Lowery Nixon

Author of more than one hundred books, Joan Lowery Nixon is the only writer to have won four Edgar Allan Poe Awards for Juvenile Mysteries (and been nominated several other times) from the Mystery Writers of America. Creating contemporary teenage characters who have both a personal problem and a mystery to solve, Nixon captured the attention of legions of teenage readers since the publication of h...more

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