Method 15/33

She is taken in a flash, thrown into the back of a van, tied up, and blindfolded. She is 16, pregnant, and in trouble. The room she is taken to is three floors up—a farmhouse, perhaps? The man who kidnapped her comes in at precisely the same time three times a day to give her food. A doctor comes to check on the health of her baby, and once, a couple comes to be assured that their new baby—her baby—will be blue-eyed and healthy. She waits. She collects "assets," such as the handle from the bathroom bucket, a towel, or a blanket. She practices her escape and plans her revenge. Kirk's brilliantly executed novel alternates between the kidnapped girl and Special Agent Roger Liu—the detective assigned to find her. He and his partner slowly and methodically collect clues as they make their way to the remote hideaway. Meanwhile, the kidnapped girl is stuck in the room awaiting her certain death at the hands of the brutal man and his partners. But her brilliance is exceeded only by her ability to plan, calculate, observe, and wait. The abductors never have a chance as she orchestrates a conclusion that will leave readers satisfied and possibly unsettled. Readers wait with her as she ponders the right moment to make a move even as they suspect that it might not work.