Already Gone

Already Gone
John Rector
Thomas & Mercer
October 25, 2011
Paperback
ISBN: 9781612180878
317 pages
$ 14.95

What would you expect to be taken from you if you were mugged outside a local bar? Most of us would expect to lose our purse/wallet, keys, money, watch, or rings. Well, Jake Reese was mugged and all that was taken was his wedding ring with the finger. The finger was cut off with bolt cutters. They let him keep his money.

Jake Reese had a rough upbringing. Today we would consider him as a child to be “at risk”. Fortunately, he has turned his life around. His drinking is under control. He recently married and lives together with his loving wife in a house in a decent neighborhood. He has a possibility for a secure future with his position as a professor teaching writing at a university. Everything seems to be falling into place until he is mugged.

Jake decides to investigate this on his own placing his life at the university on hold when another weird thing happens. His wife, Diane, is missing.
Does this have anything to do with the finger? Is this a kidnapping? Is this revenge for something in Jake’s past? He decides to look into his past for the answers, if there are any.
This is a gripping tale. These 317 pages literally fly as you are reading this intense story. As Jake attempts to reconnect with the people in his past, they seem to have more questions and hostility than answers.
Already Gone is John Rector’s third novel following The Cold Kiss which is being adapted for a movie and The Grove.
Jake Reese is a dark, haunted character who unfortunately could be any one of us under the same circumstances. Sometimes he seems naïve, but realistic in that many of us would react similarly with those situations. The intertwining plot is enthralling. You cannot put this book down. (Yes, I read it in less than a day.) Already Gone is definitely a page-turner.
I look forward to more dark haunting complex tales by John Rector.