Devious. Conniving. Deceitful. Insidious. David Miller thought he knew his mother. He thought kidnapping three children was the most appalling and horrendous thing any human being could do and she couldn’t possibly do anything more monstrous. He thought there was nothing else she could do or say that would surprise him. How wrong he was.
After Beatrice Miller, David’s serial-kidnapping mother, is sentenced to thirty years, David moves to Phoenix, Arizona; and with the help of a trust fund and an old friend, he starts the “Never Give Up” foundation, an organization dedicated to finding and returning exploited and missing children safely to their families. With all the wicked things his mother had done, David feels it is his unspoken duty to do something worthwhile.
Hesitant at first, but after reading his mother’s journal, David is determined to mend their dysfunctional relationship. Every time David visits Bea in prison, she seems deranged, insisting that people are trying to kill her. She ends each brief encounter with the chilling statement, “Remember David, things aren’t always what they seem.”
As word about the foundation spreads, the services of “Never Give Up” are requested time-and-time-again to help where other agencies have failed. That is, until the police come knocking on David’s door and arrest him, taking him back to Bunting Valley, North Dakota, for the murder of a newborn baby boy.
Forced to shut down “Never Give Up”, David is amazed at how quickly the entire world turns their backs on him. The trial begins and his mother’s testimony is the only thing that can save him. Telling the truth is as foreign to Beatrice Miller as giving up drugs is to an addict. As everyone in the courtroom holds their breath, you will, too. Remember, things aren’t always what they seem.
