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The Abduction of Mary Rose
A suspense novel interwoven with threads of romance and paranormal.
Imagine discovering everything you believe about yourself to be a lie. And that the truth could stir a killer from his lair.
Following the death of the woman she believed to be her mother, 28-year-old Naomi Waters learns from a malicious aunt that she is not only adopted, but the product of a brutal rape that left her birth mother, Mary Rose Francis, a teenager of Micmac ancestry, in a coma for 8 months.
Dealing with a sense of betrayal and loss, but with new purpose in her life, Naomi vows to track down Mary Rose's attackers and bring them to justice. She places her story in the local paper, asking for information from residents who might remember something of the case that has been cold for nearly three decades.
She is about to lose hope that her efforts will bear fruit, when she gets an anonymous phone call. Naomi has attracted the attention of one who remembers the case well.
But someone else has also read the article in the paper. The man whose DNA she carries.
And he has Naomi in his sights.
Imagine discovering everything you believe about yourself to be a lie. And that the truth could stir a killer from his lair.
Following the death of the woman she believed to be her mother, 28-year-old Naomi Waters learns from a malicious aunt that she is not only adopted, but the product of a brutal rape that left her birth mother, Mary Rose Francis, a teenager of Micmac ancestry, in a coma for 8 months.
Dealing with a sense of betrayal and loss, but with new purpose in her life, Naomi vows to track down Mary Rose's attackers and bring them to justice. She places her story in the local paper, asking for information from residents who might remember something of the case that has been cold for nearly three decades.
She is about to lose hope that her efforts will bear fruit, when she gets an anonymous phone call. Naomi has attracted the attention of one who remembers the case well.
But someone else has also read the article in the paper. The man whose DNA she carries.
And he has Naomi in his sights.
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 8, 2011
101 people are currently reading
768 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
June 14, 2012
This would have made a better short story. Too much description about the blue sky, the enamel sky, the azure sky, etc, etc. I skimmed through paragraphs at a time of the author rehashing all of the incidents. Too many of those little tricks, like reaching to lock the door when the handle starts to turn and then freezing from fright. Bleck! It was more like one of those cheap paperbacks that I used to buy, when I was thirteen, in the pharmacy for a dime. I didn't hate it, but I won't read another one by Hovey.
December 26, 2012
I wish I could give this book more stars. It had a great premise and I did finish it. Some of it I liked quite well. But some of it annoyed me so much I clenched my jaw and made my neck hurt. this woman was stupid. On figuring the crime out, maybe not, but the way she was so "ladeda" about someone after her and refusing help. I wish I had friends like that and would certainly take them up on taking the cat for safety issues. She did not appear to be doing this for the challenge either, but out of plain idiocy. Her cousin dumps her when she knows how her mom is over the necklace? lol Everyone just takes off after she has almost been killed by the criminal and she does not care, stays there so he can come at her again. Even if they thought he was caught? the killer kills once way back, but never does anything else, but all of a sudden goes off and kills like a psycho in anger because the protagonist was not home? The profile here is kind of messed up. It could happen like this-anything from a demented mind does not make sense-but it seems someone that would do that would have had brushes with the law all along. Even with these and a few more annoyances-not to mention the love at first site it seemed we got, At the very end of the book after enduring to the end, the f-bomb is thrown in. I know most folks could care less on that one. I did cheer when she threw the stool out and smacked the guy at the bedroom door, but this book in my book rates a 3 and after the f-bomb I dropped it to 2.
February 23, 2012
I'm missing a few fingernails after finishing this one. Now I'm going to check and see how easily I can move my dresser against the door. :-)
I read this on my Kindle in one day...probably because it was so hard to put down. Such a true to life story, with all of the emotion you would expect from reading this kind of story in the newspaper.
Justice is a beautiful thing.
I read this on my Kindle in one day...probably because it was so hard to put down. Such a true to life story, with all of the emotion you would expect from reading this kind of story in the newspaper.
Justice is a beautiful thing.
October 17, 2012
Noami wakes up one day and finds that everything about her life is different from what she thought. This, in turn, leads her to digging into a cold case murder that will help her discover who she really is. Putting herself in harm's way may be the only way to solve the murder and find the answer to all her questions. Very enjoyable mystery.
February 20, 2012
Awesome book but I am a chicken! Not even gonna get up to get a drink cuz its late and after that ending I'm not walking out of my bedroom! Why do old houses creak right after u read these awesome books......just to scare a person!?!!!??! GREAT BOOK!
January 15, 2015
I was so annoyed with Naomi,how she continued to put herself at risk!
Also, didn't buy the love story, ugh,and how the whole Edna involvement didn't get anywhere.
Also, didn't buy the love story, ugh,and how the whole Edna involvement didn't get anywhere.
September 1, 2021
There is a lot that I loved about this novel. I loved that Naomi, the protagonist is part Mi’kmaq and the author addresses racism and inequality towards Natives throughout the novel. At times overtly at other times with subtleness.
I loved the tension, which seems to be a hallmark of this author’s work based on the last book I read by her (Plain Jane).
I liked Naomi. She is smart, fast thinking and “as pretty as a sunset.”
The author takes the reader through Naomi’s thought process as she is fiercely focused on avenging her mother’s murderer.
A good versus evil novel.
January 16, 2012
I got this book as a freebie for my Kindle. My luck with the freebies has been back and forth.... some good, some decent, and some downright horrible. Very rarely do I find a book (free or otherwise) that I enjoy as much as I did this one. Everything started immediately. It did not start with a lot of unnecessary details, as most books do. The story literally starts at the very first page and keeps going until the very end. There were a few editing issues and at times I would have to read a sentence a couple of times for it to make sense to me. It wasn't every single page so I was able to overlook it, for the most part.
When Naomi's mother dies after a long bout with cancer, she learns that everything she has believed her entire life is a lie. Thanks to her vindictive aunt immediately after her mother's death, Naomi learns that she was adopted as a baby. Not only adopted but her birth was as a result of a brutal rape and murder. The murderer was never caught. Once Naomi gets over her feeling of betrayal by her adopted mother, she sets out on a quest to find justice for her birth mother. As it is 28 years after the crime, the police do not go out of their way to help her. So she goes to the media and Naomi's story is run in the local paper. This is when everything really gets going. The murderer reads the story and sets out to destroy the only evidence of the crime he committed 28 years prior...... the daughter conceived during that act.
This is a very fast paced book. There is always something going on. No dragging or lulls. There was so much going on that I did not want to put my Kindle down, even when the battery got to almost zero. Everything came together exactly the way it should have. The ending was perfect.
This is my first by this author. It definitely will not be my last.
When Naomi's mother dies after a long bout with cancer, she learns that everything she has believed her entire life is a lie. Thanks to her vindictive aunt immediately after her mother's death, Naomi learns that she was adopted as a baby. Not only adopted but her birth was as a result of a brutal rape and murder. The murderer was never caught. Once Naomi gets over her feeling of betrayal by her adopted mother, she sets out on a quest to find justice for her birth mother. As it is 28 years after the crime, the police do not go out of their way to help her. So she goes to the media and Naomi's story is run in the local paper. This is when everything really gets going. The murderer reads the story and sets out to destroy the only evidence of the crime he committed 28 years prior...... the daughter conceived during that act.
This is a very fast paced book. There is always something going on. No dragging or lulls. There was so much going on that I did not want to put my Kindle down, even when the battery got to almost zero. Everything came together exactly the way it should have. The ending was perfect.
This is my first by this author. It definitely will not be my last.
August 6, 2016
The storyline of this book was good and I would have given the book higher star if I didn't have so many errors on the ebook. It had grammatical errors and there were alot of 3/4 in the book. Don't know if this was something in the ebook download or what. Otherwise the story was a good one and was a good read.
June 25, 2012
I was sucked into this book, I quite literally had trouble putting it down. I liked that the central character was Mi'kmaq and this story illustrated vividly the treatment of the First Nation, by the white people. But I originally chose this title because it suggested suspense and that was definitely what I got. Very Good Joan Hall Hovey.
July 6, 2014
I'm a strange reader. I starts reading it then stopped and didn't read it again several months later. Once I read it last week I was hooked. Finished it in 3 dAys. I read the ebook version. The size of the don't helped a lot. I could read one page in less than 10 seconds. Anyways good book. Got my heart racing. It's either that good or I have a heart condition I need checked.
December 31, 2017
I found the story kept my attention throughout as Naomi searched for clues to who had abducted her birth mother and raped her before leaving her for dead beside the road all those years ago. Mary Rose became pregnant from the rape and was in a coma and kept alive until the baby was born. A kind, single nurse at the hospital adopted the baby raising her alone and never telling Naomi she was adopted. When she dies her sister Edna can’t wait to tell Naomi she is adopted. That revelation starts Naomi on her quest to solve the mystery of who attacked Mary Rose and ultimately was her biological father.
May 23, 2020
There was just too much about the story that I had to accept to move on. Like a girl being pregnant in a coma after a rape. Isn't Plan B a routine medication to ensure stuff like that doesn't happen? And the fact she thought her dad disappeared or died in the Vietnam War when she was born late 1982/early 83?
There was zero romantic development, unfinished plot points (her aunt and her cousin), and honestly, Naomi was just dumb. She'd be the first person killed in a horror movie. All so the plot could move forward like it did. I think it could have benefited from more beta reading to redirect and avoid some of these problems.
There was zero romantic development, unfinished plot points (her aunt and her cousin), and honestly, Naomi was just dumb. She'd be the first person killed in a horror movie. All so the plot could move forward like it did. I think it could have benefited from more beta reading to redirect and avoid some of these problems.
June 11, 2025
It's a good, easy to read mystery.
I enjoyed reading this book. It was a good mystery, read, not my usual genre, but the premise sounded. It's very interesting to me. The breadcrumbs to the mystery are not difficult to follow. And it was slightly predictable, but still an enjoyable book. Captures a very difficult event that occurs to a young Native American girl, but in a fashion that is not overly graphic yet, you still feel the emotions. 4 stars.
I enjoyed reading this book. It was a good mystery, read, not my usual genre, but the premise sounded. It's very interesting to me. The breadcrumbs to the mystery are not difficult to follow. And it was slightly predictable, but still an enjoyable book. Captures a very difficult event that occurs to a young Native American girl, but in a fashion that is not overly graphic yet, you still feel the emotions. 4 stars.
October 31, 2017
Very Enjoyable
This is the first book I have read by Mrs. Hovey but it certainly won't be the last. She is a great storyteller. Her characters are believable and I liked having a Native American entwined. I really liked this book. Thank you.
This is the first book I have read by Mrs. Hovey but it certainly won't be the last. She is a great storyteller. Her characters are believable and I liked having a Native American entwined. I really liked this book. Thank you.
August 17, 2019
Very good
I really liked the story and the characters were very well written. I felt empathy for the main character as I too am adopted, but my parents started tell me at a young age.
I really liked the story and the characters were very well written. I felt empathy for the main character as I too am adopted, but my parents started tell me at a young age.
December 12, 2022
Mind blowing
I loved all of the twists and turns it took to reach the final conclusion the characters had you immediately rooting for them and drawn to the story developing well written
I loved all of the twists and turns it took to reach the final conclusion the characters had you immediately rooting for them and drawn to the story developing well written
February 27, 2017
I liked this story a lot. It was suspenseful with good characters and a strong plot. The bad guy was so scary and pure evil. Naomi was smart, persistent, caring but not perfect.
Good read - strongly recommend it!
Good read - strongly recommend it!
November 16, 2017
A very good story.
The story was easily followed and the characters well developed. I would recommend this to anyone. The story does not get too graphic.
The story was easily followed and the characters well developed. I would recommend this to anyone. The story does not get too graphic.
January 15, 2018
Quick read
This was a page turner for me. I am On the look out now for more books by this author!
This was a page turner for me. I am On the look out now for more books by this author!
January 26, 2018
Well written and suspenseful story, but there were formatting problems otherwise I'd have given it 4 stars.
August 25, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was very well written and it did a good job of holding my interest. I read this in one day. Didn't want to put it down. Normanly I read legal and medical thrillers, but now I will put this author and her books on my list.
April 5, 2019
Awesome
What a great book and super characters. Wish I had read this way before! It is well written and hard to put down. Could there be a sequel?
What a great book and super characters. Wish I had read this way before! It is well written and hard to put down. Could there be a sequel?
October 24, 2020
Excellent read!!
July 23, 2021
Canadian mystery thriller. Naomi discovers something shocking following the death of her mother. This lead her into a dangerous search for justice.
Read
March 3, 2022Excellent book, I love her writing. Nice that she's a local author from right here in Saint John N.B. Sp proud of her.
April 17, 2024
Had a hard time putting this book down. The story gripped me from beginning to the surprising end. Would recommend it to anyone who likes mysteries
January 14, 2024
awesome read
Grabbing you until the very end. I couldn’t stop reading. Each chapter leading to the next. New author for me. Definitely will read more.
Grabbing you until the very end. I couldn’t stop reading. Each chapter leading to the next. New author for me. Definitely will read more.
November 2, 2011
Title: THE ABDUCTION OF MARY ROSE
Author: Joan Hall Hovey
Publisher: BWLPP
Genre: Suspense, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1466337338
ISBN-13: 978-1466337336
Price: Kindle eBook: $2.99 Print Book: $11.99
Publisher website address: http://bwlpp.com/mysteries.php
Author’s personal website: http://www.joanhallhovey.com
I have been a fan of Joan Hall Hovey since I read CHILL WATERS last year. After that, I reached for each and every release with the same excitement I do for new books by bestselling authors like Dean Koontz. And with THE ABDUCTION OF MARY ROSE, Ms. Hovey follows in the same tradition of grabbing her readers by the throat and never letting go until the final pages bring the story to its ultimate resolution.
It’s not so much the de facto smooth writing skills, or the vivid scene-setting that makes you feel as if you are right there with the protagonist, or the wonderful, natural-sounding dialog, or the edge-of-your-seat suspense, or the wild chase scenes that keep you up into the wee hours of morning with your heart pounding...No, I expect all of these elements in this author’s books. What shines so brightly above and beyond these great traits, however, is Ms. Hovey’s characters. Rich with back-story, as real as the person sitting next to you on the couch or in your office, these people leap off the page and invade your mind, lingering for weeks or months afterwards.
In THE ABDUCTION OF MARY ROSE, you’ll immediately begin to root for Naomi Waters, a twenty-eight year old woman who records audio books for a living. Bright, loving, and a dedicated daughter, her story starts at her dying mother’s bedside.
Now, imagine losing your only parent to a devastating disease. On the day of the funeral, now imagine discovering that she wasn’t your mother, that you were adopted. With that comes the knowledge that the photo on your dresser of your long dead military hero father was fake, too. Add to that the sudden unveiling of all this through your mother’s obituary, written by the nasty sister of the only mother you ever knew, and you have the springboard from which this riveting story moves forward.
When Naomi starts to dig into her birthmother’s history, she’s horrified to discover that poor Mary Rose was only sixteen when she was abducted, brutally raped and left for dead. The Micmac native girl lived long enough in a coma to give birth to Naomi, then died shortly thereafter. The case was never solved, and for nearly thirty years the rapist and his cohort have lived free among the local townspeople. One elderly witness saw two men take her back then, but couldn’t react fast enough to save the poor girl when the abduction happened.
Ms. Hovey’s scene of the abduction broke my heart. I’m still upset about it, and still feel ragged hatred toward the men who took her, used her, and threw her away. I am filled with sorrow for Mary Rose’s dear, sweet grandfather, who lost his only family member to violence of the worst sort. I’m not sure I would have survived such a loss, to tell the truth.
Yet through all of this tension and horrible upheaval, Naomi vows to dig into the past, catch her mother’s killer or killers, and bring them to justice. With skills that rival some of the best detectives, born of a passion to avenge her mother and a close spiritual connection with Mary Rose, she steadfastly makes progress in spite of the local police’s lack of interest.
In Joan Hall Hovey’s inimitable style, she ratchets up the suspense and fear as the story unfolds. Naomi goes public, gains the interest of the locals, and in particular one very brutal and nasty man, her mother’s rapist and her biological father.
The problem is, this man has no conscience, and only wants to destroy the DNA evidence of his misdeed that lies within Naomi’s cells. The final scenes will have you rooting for Naomi and clinging to the edge of your seat. They are brilliantly rendered.
When you buy this book–and I highly recommend you do–you need to set aside time to read. Start it on a Friday night or Saturday morning, or you’ll be calling your boss to take a vacation day. Yes, it’s that good.
Author: Joan Hall Hovey
Publisher: BWLPP
Genre: Suspense, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1466337338
ISBN-13: 978-1466337336
Price: Kindle eBook: $2.99 Print Book: $11.99
Publisher website address: http://bwlpp.com/mysteries.php
Author’s personal website: http://www.joanhallhovey.com
I have been a fan of Joan Hall Hovey since I read CHILL WATERS last year. After that, I reached for each and every release with the same excitement I do for new books by bestselling authors like Dean Koontz. And with THE ABDUCTION OF MARY ROSE, Ms. Hovey follows in the same tradition of grabbing her readers by the throat and never letting go until the final pages bring the story to its ultimate resolution.
It’s not so much the de facto smooth writing skills, or the vivid scene-setting that makes you feel as if you are right there with the protagonist, or the wonderful, natural-sounding dialog, or the edge-of-your-seat suspense, or the wild chase scenes that keep you up into the wee hours of morning with your heart pounding...No, I expect all of these elements in this author’s books. What shines so brightly above and beyond these great traits, however, is Ms. Hovey’s characters. Rich with back-story, as real as the person sitting next to you on the couch or in your office, these people leap off the page and invade your mind, lingering for weeks or months afterwards.
In THE ABDUCTION OF MARY ROSE, you’ll immediately begin to root for Naomi Waters, a twenty-eight year old woman who records audio books for a living. Bright, loving, and a dedicated daughter, her story starts at her dying mother’s bedside.
Now, imagine losing your only parent to a devastating disease. On the day of the funeral, now imagine discovering that she wasn’t your mother, that you were adopted. With that comes the knowledge that the photo on your dresser of your long dead military hero father was fake, too. Add to that the sudden unveiling of all this through your mother’s obituary, written by the nasty sister of the only mother you ever knew, and you have the springboard from which this riveting story moves forward.
When Naomi starts to dig into her birthmother’s history, she’s horrified to discover that poor Mary Rose was only sixteen when she was abducted, brutally raped and left for dead. The Micmac native girl lived long enough in a coma to give birth to Naomi, then died shortly thereafter. The case was never solved, and for nearly thirty years the rapist and his cohort have lived free among the local townspeople. One elderly witness saw two men take her back then, but couldn’t react fast enough to save the poor girl when the abduction happened.
Ms. Hovey’s scene of the abduction broke my heart. I’m still upset about it, and still feel ragged hatred toward the men who took her, used her, and threw her away. I am filled with sorrow for Mary Rose’s dear, sweet grandfather, who lost his only family member to violence of the worst sort. I’m not sure I would have survived such a loss, to tell the truth.
Yet through all of this tension and horrible upheaval, Naomi vows to dig into the past, catch her mother’s killer or killers, and bring them to justice. With skills that rival some of the best detectives, born of a passion to avenge her mother and a close spiritual connection with Mary Rose, she steadfastly makes progress in spite of the local police’s lack of interest.
In Joan Hall Hovey’s inimitable style, she ratchets up the suspense and fear as the story unfolds. Naomi goes public, gains the interest of the locals, and in particular one very brutal and nasty man, her mother’s rapist and her biological father.
The problem is, this man has no conscience, and only wants to destroy the DNA evidence of his misdeed that lies within Naomi’s cells. The final scenes will have you rooting for Naomi and clinging to the edge of your seat. They are brilliantly rendered.
When you buy this book–and I highly recommend you do–you need to set aside time to read. Start it on a Friday night or Saturday morning, or you’ll be calling your boss to take a vacation day. Yes, it’s that good.
July 12, 2012
Naomi Waters was devastated after a long bout of cancer took away her beloved mother. Trying to come to terms with her mom’s death was brutal, but when her malicious aunt informed the world, along with Naomi that she was in fact adopted, only made it worse. The truth, Naomi later came to discover, was that her birth mother, Mary Rose Francis, a teenager of Micmac ancestry, gave birth to Naomi 8 months after she had lain in a coma from the rape and beating she received when Naomi was conceived.
Dealing with the shock, Naomi has found new purpose in her life; track down Mary Rose’s attackers and bring them to justice. She places her mother’s story in the local paper asking for any information which might lead her to the animals who attacked Mary Rose and left her for dead. Naomi does attract someone - one person who was there, and the other who carries Naomi’s DNA and doesn’t want her comparing it to his.
*** It is always an incredible feeling to discover a new author who has talent in creating characters and emotions so real that you know and feel them yourself, and that is exactly what I found in author Joan Hall Hovey’s ABDUCTION OF MARY ROSE. The beginning of this book was emotionally tense with the knowing that Mary Rose was going to be in trouble with the boys who were following her and looking for trouble. It bears notice that from that very moment I was hooked and because I had started this story in the early evening, I was still reading late, or should I say early into the wee hours of the morning. It was that good, with edge of the seat suspense while Ms. Hovey led Naomi in discovering more and more clues that were gave her more insight into her birth mother’s life while bringing her closer to identifying the monster with whom she shared her DNA.
Not only was the ABDUCTION OF MARY ROSE well-written and fast-paced, but Ms. Hovey also injected some wonderful secondary characters who helped Naomi, who having no family, to find some comfort in her grief. One was a woman whom Mary Rose had befriended and who was the last person to see Mary Rose alive before she was attacked. It was through this long lost friend of Mary Rose who was able to give Naomi insight into her birth mother, able to bring comfort to Naomi when no one else was close enough to care.
Bottom line: I really and truly enjoyed the ABDUCTION OF MARY ROSE and thought it was extremely well-written and well-plotted with a delightful twist ending. The characters will stay with me, both bad and good, for some time. I love that in a book!
Marilyn Rondeau for, www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews