Review: Well done
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 27, 2013
Stella's Plea by R.A. Giggie is a Christian suspense story set in Canada and Newfoundland.  Stella's daughter, Alexis, became very ill, and lost her hearing and ability to speak at the age of two.  Now, a year later, she is down with the flu.  After being cooped up in the house all week with a sick daughter, Stella gives in when her friend, Joni, insists they take their children to the local park.There are a lot of parents and their children playing on the structures and slides at the park.  And there is also a woman with a brown poodle, sitting on a bench, watching and waiting.  When Stella turns her back, the woman entices Alexis to come and pet her puppy.  And then, they're gone.Stella's Plea is a well-written, compelling and suspenseful story about what a mother goes through when a child is missing.  It has well-developed characters, enough false leads, and a logical resolution.  I liked the way the author introduced the characters one at a time, repeating their names several times, giving the reader enough time to assimilate the new member of the cast.Once the police start finding legitimate clues, the book turns into something you don't want to put down.  It even made me cry, which is something I rarely do.Although it is difficult to describe sign language with only words, the author made a good attempt at explaining with signs for "red" and "mommy", giving the reader an inkling of what it must be like to raise a deaf child and have to learn another language.The religious element is tastefully handled.  I liked the use of a still small voice that created a God that listened and responded to her pleas.  In the final chapters, the story reaches a spiritual climax with an altar call, forgiveness and healing.  Altar calls usually turn me off, but in this case, it turned into a pivotal moment for the characters, and therefore had a useful purpose.The only thing I didn't like was what happened to the kidnapper.  It was a logical solution for a human to think of, but something tells me that God would have given a first-time offender a lighter sentence.