Kick Lannigan, 21, is a survivor. Abducted at age six in broad daylight, the police, the public, perhaps even her family assumed the worst had occurred. And then Kathleen Lannigan was found, alive, six years later.
In the early months following her freedom, as Kick struggled with PTSD, her parents put her through a litany of therapies, but nothing helped until the detective who rescued her suggested Kick learn to fight. Before she was thirteen, Kick learned marksmanship, martial arts, boxing, archery, and knife throwing. She excelled at every one, vowing she would never be victimized again. But when two children in the Portland area go missing in the same month, Kick goes into a tailspin.
Then an enigmatic man Bishop approaches her with a proposition: he is convinced Kick's experiences and expertise can be used to help rescue the abductees. Little does Kick know the case will lead directly into her terrifying past…
My Review
ONE KICK (Kick Lannigan #1) by Chelsea Cain brings a compelling new heroine, Kit “Kick” Lannigan, the first in this new exciting and compelling thriller series.
Kit was kidnapped at age six, by a child pornography ring when she was six, and held captive for five years until the FBI rescued her. Being held in captivity, has taken its emotional toll, on damaged, twenty-one year old Kick; however, she has turned into a fighting machine.
Still struggling with psychological baggage, she's dedicated herself to martial arts and marksmanship. Before she was thirteen, Kick learned marksmanship, martial arts, boxing, archery, and knife throwing. She excelled at every one, vowing she would never be victimized again.
Living in Portland, OR, and quite obsessed with child abductions and now the disappearance of Adam and Mia, triggering the guilt in the role she once played, ensuring the anonymity of a vast ring of child pornographers.
When a wealthy former gun dealer, working with the FBI, drops into Kick's life and demands that she go with him to the site of the latest abduction, she fiercely resists. She knows she has to help with all her skills and insight, to help find the two children; yet, little does Kick know this case will lead her back to her terrifying past.
Her mother, who wrote a best-seller about her daughter's abduction, is still milking the story as an expert on TV. Kick returns to places she was held as "Beth," and her confrontation with her abductor exposes a horribly complicated relationship.
Her strange relationship with John Bishop adds intrigue, and dynamic together as well as the other secondary characters. Fast–paced, painful, emotional, challenging, full of tension, twists and turns, and a kick ass main protagonist, taking readers to dark places of child porn rings, for a suspenseful quest of justice and redemption— to the compelling conclusion.
This was my first book by Cain and looking forward to the next in the series! I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Heather Lind, for a nice overall performance.
