ABANDONED. Account of Student Kidnapping (I believe it was Fictional)

[Sumire]

The summer of '94 I found a book in my local junk shop that I bought to read during a family trip.

The plot surrounded a kidnapping of a small busload of students of varied ages by a trio (I believe it was only three anyway) of former and/or escaped mental patients.

They were led by a man that blamed these students' parents or the community at large for his stay in the institution or something like that. The other two individuals in the group were women, one of which was in the institution for killing her children, and the other was from a wealthy family who had been institutionalized for compulsive self-pleasure.

I seem to remember they buried the bus or something like that, but I can't be 100% sure. The cover was a picture of the bus (driving down the road I think) in shades of gray with a blue tinge.

On the cover I remember a tagline or something that said "What happened to the children?" or "What about the children?" I picked up the paperback so it had been released for awhile and it had the distinct dark yellowing on the page edges showing age, but it was in good condition overall so it probably wasn't too old.

This is all I can remember and I just haven't gotten any hits with those search results that sound right. If anyone can help, it's much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Brittany]

Parts of this remind me of but I haven't read it in years.

EDIT: from reading some reviews I think this is exactly the book! Hope so. I really enjoyed it.

[Kate]

After the First Death by Robert Cormier has children kidnapped on a bus, but I think the perps were terrorists. This may not be your book.

[Sumire]

I've come across Ransom in my search before, but I'm still unsure of that one.

I'm almost positive it's not After the First Death though since it was mentally ill perpetrating the kidnapping and not terrorists.

Thank you ladies, I'll check into both titles.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Five Were Missing by Lois Duncan possibly? Its been a long time since I read it, but thought I'd throw it out there for you

[Brittany]

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "Five Were Missing by Lois Duncan possibly? Its been a long time since I read it, but thought I'd throw it out there for you"

This is the same book as Ransom, it's just Five Were Missing was the original title.

[bookel]

Hide the Children by Victor Miller
Kidnap 25 boys and girls at once? You'd have to be crazy...

[Erin]

Was it non-fiction/true crime? I swear I remember something similar, and that the criminals drove the bus into an enormous hole that they had prepared before hand - the book maybe even had sketches of the bunker they created?

[Bargle]

No, that was the Chowchilla school bus kidnapping and the kidnappers were all male. None were mental patients. It was done for the money, nothing else.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chowchil...

[Bargle]

School bus kidnap bump.

[bookel]

Is this adult fiction, or young adult fiction?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Lala hasn't been active since April 2012, I don't know if any more answers are going to be forthcoming.

[bookel]

The query has come up a number of times on booksleuth (on abe.com).
Of course the usual response of: Five Were Missing (alternate title: Ransom) by Lois Duncan you seem to have ruled out.

There was this query about a bus kidnapping.

So, more to add to the list:

Under the Beetle's Cellar
by Mary Willis Walker
Publisher: Doubleday, 1995.
Kidnapped by a cult of religious fanatics, an Austin school bus driver and eleven of his charges are held.

Kidnapped
by Lee K. Merialdo
A school bus is hi-jacked, and the children are kidnapped and abandoned in the desert. Sometimes together, often at odds, they use their wits and their skills as they struggle to survive.

[bookel]

Kidnapping, bus -- children's/young adult fiction

Kidnapping, bus -- adult fiction

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Nothing from Lala.....moving to Abandoned.