Abandoned

by Jennie Hansen

Tisa Lewis has spent her life remembering frightening images from her childhood — a dead woman, headlights in the night, an empty highway, an abandoned girl clinging to a fence in the wind and the rain. These fleeting memories have restrained her, have pushed her to deny six fiancés, have prevented her from keeping a steady job, and have kept her from developing faith in her Church and her God.
Now, just as she begins to settle in at a new company — just as she starts to fall in love with Cabe Evans, her foster brother’s new police partner — the past she can’t remember threatens to take everything away from her.
As Peter and Cabe’s investigation of a powerful mafia family begins to uncover Tisa’s past, Tisa’s past comes looking for her.
From best-selling author Jennie Hansen comes Abandoned, a breathtaking, suspenseful new novel about a young woman’s determination to shape her own future by conquering her tragic past.

Genres: Lds Fiction, Romance, Mystery, Lds, Mystery Thriller, Adult, Christian Fiction

262 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

Reviews

[Deidra Scott]

I think this is just a classic suspense novel. The attention detail makes you feel like you're in the middle of it. The author is good at not revealing all the bad guys till the end.

[Melissa]

I added this to currently reading only to remember that I finished it this morning. Why is it that sometimes you end a book so abruptly that your brain just doesn't realize that it is finised. This always happens when I read a book quickly.

As with most of Jennie Hansen's mysteries, this has an element of romance mingled in as well as LDS teachings. The LDS angle features semi-prominantly in the story. The main character, Tisa, is trying to figure out who she really is and finds that the LDS gospel figures into that.

Tisa's brother Peter works in the SLC, UT Drug division and is trying to take down a drug cartel in the Utah area. An FBI agent from California who has been investigating a related organization comes to partner up in the investigation. As Peter and Cabe continue to get deeper into the investigation, Cabe and Tisa start to develop feelings for eachother.

As a romance goes, it's not the best book ever. However, for a mystery/suspense, the romance is sprinkled in just right and adds a nice element for the female readership.

[Angee]

This one had me on the edge of my seat! Wow!

At the beginning, you read about two children who are being raised in a very abusive home. The one gets kidnapped and abandoned, and then the book leaves you hanging there. The real story begins many years later, and as you read, you start putting pieces together. It's a mystery to figure out as the characters from the past and the present start to become intertwined. You don't know who to trust, you don't know what's going to happen to the characters you love. It was fairly intense for me at many points, and I just wanted to skip ahead to figure it all out. The Gospel is also briefly brought into the story, but it's definitely not the main focus. LOVED this one!

[Kara]

This book was good. Not great, but good. It had a good story line with some suspense. What I liked most was the fact that Tisa the main character learns to love herself and recognize she is a daughter of God. It is the most important relationship we have, the one with our Heavenly father. So I really liked how the author intertwined that aspect in with the suspence and love story. It was good.

[Christina]

I haven't read a lot of Jennie Hansen, but this is among my favorites so far. I think it is because I was annoyed that the last book I read with a modern-day setting seemed so disjointed. This one flows into one complete story.

I liked the excitement & the easy to relate to characters. I liked that even the bad guy has a soft side. The love story sub-plot was cute.

[Susan]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as some of Hansen's other books. It's about a girl who was very abused as a child, then adopted by a good family. However, the scars of her early years remained with her. I felt that some parts of the books just didn't hold together--or, how could they be so stupid?

[Suzanne]

This is an ok book about a girl who is abused and abandoned then adopted by a good family but forever haunted by her early childhood which she doesn't remember. Her adopted brother is a policeman and she falls in love with an FBI man who are trying to bring down a crime family. Enough exciting bits to keep you interested.

[Katie (hiding in the pages)]

Tisa was abandoned as a young girl and has always wondered about her past. her adopted brother is a cop and is working on a huge drug case, which involves the FBI. Cabe is the agent assigned and notices the spark between him and Tisa, but has a case to solve.

Full of danger and suspense, with a dash of romance, Abandoned is a page-turning read.

[Julia]

This book was way too predictable for me. I was able to tell pretty much every small detail of how the story progressed as I kept reading. It wasn't terrible, but reading mostly about wanted criminals, the Mafia & drug dealers really isn't my forte most of the time. I also thought Jennie Hansen added in too many unnecessary details that made the plot seem to drag a little more.

[Patricia]

This was an interesting story. I like it when these LDS fiction stories have suspense and action with a bit of romance rather than just romance. Just a SPOILER ALERT HERE: One thing I really had a problem with is how Hansen resolved the drama--she simply skipped it--one minute they are running for their lives and the next, they are safe and sound. Strange.

[Lynne]

It took me a little bit of time to really get interested in the book. It's hard to read a few pages at a time and have it grab you. Ultimately sat down for an hour or so and read. I liked the book. This is the first I have read by this author.

[LAWonder10]

This was well-written but lacked the deeper adventure it could have had. The plot was great and suspenseful but then she allowed sense a lapse in the delivery that temporarily lost the urge to hurry to the next page. It still was a great story and the ending great.

[Liesl]

I really enjoy the Jennie Hanson books they are a fun read. I usually can hardly put them down.

[Rachel]

This one really stick in your head. I sometimes can't remember the story line of the books I have read but this one is memorable. Perhaps not the writing ever but still a good book

[Susan]

Abandonment and adoption are the underlying themes. A young woman still struggles with why she was left beside a highway when she was four.

[Susan]

This is another amazing mystery/romance by Jennie Hansen. I liked how she ties everything up in the end.

[Courtney White]

This book deals with some very hard issues so just be warned

[Karen]

This is one of my favorites of Jennie Hansen's.

[Shae Burton]

This is another great book of Jennie's. An interesting twist to it but then, that's what they're all about right?

[Heidee]

I liked this one! It kept you guessing and I loved the twists and turns and surprises. It definatly kept you on you toes! fun read!

[T.K.]

All the book's mysteries are obvious by page 64--making the characters seem rather obtuse not to figure them out. However, it still held my interest, and I even cried over the predictable ending.

[Sarah]

love it

[Shannon Ireland]

This book started out really sad, about a little girl that was abused and abandoned, but it worked out good in the end and was a good read.

[Kristen]

One of those LDS novels. It is what it is.

[Megan Swanson]

This was pretty intense. I caught on pretty early what was going on and who the players were, but I still couldn't seem to make it all fit nicely together in my head until the end.

[Becky Carrell]

Notsurewhy this isn't listed as written by Jennie Hansen...

[Susan]

It was good.

[Hannah]

Jennie Hansen always seems to blow me away with her stories. Abandoned is a page turner that I couldn't put down.

[Leslie]

Tisa Lewis was abandoned as a child. She and her adopted brother Peter have always been close. Peter and his friend Cabe have been investigating a powerful mafia family. Tisa's job puts her smack in the middle of everything.

[Veneita]

Another predictable romance but still good.