Wrong Place, Wrong Time

I received this book free in exchange for a review from Net Galley. A mother is kidnapped from her uncle's house after a party. She hasn't seen her uncle in years, there has been some bad blood in the family. The men who kidnapped her claim that her uncle is holding young children prisoner. They are going to trade her for the children. The uncle refuses to cooperate. She's in the woods of New Hampshire fearing for her life with two men who said it would be a trade for prisoners the next day and it would be over. It wasn't. This book was nothing like I expected it to be. I expected the emphasis to be on the children that the uncle was holding prisoner. However, that doesn't mean it wasn't good. I actually liked it. It just went in a direction that I wasn't expecting and it made for a very good story. A pleasant surprise that added to the enjoyment of the book. The characters are very likable, including the kidnappers, and the story was well written.

"Wrong Place, Wrong Time" another mystery by Tilia Klebenov Jacobs, was just so enjoyable.  Ms. Jacobs is a wonderfully creative wordsmith and her writing truly creates a three dimensional mystery with enough details to describe complex characters and situations. The mystery starts out by introducing our heroine, Tsara Adelman as a smart woman with and idillic life filled with a loving husband and two young children. We soon learn that Tsara's uncle Cass, who has been estranged from the family since Tsara's mother died, is giving a gala at his mansion. Tsara and her brother Court are invited to attend. With some grumbling, Tsara decides to go and try and burry the hatchet with her uncle, she remembers when they were close more than twenty years ago and she hopes to rekindle the familial relationship. Tsara travels to a small town in New Hampshire where her uncle Cass, seemingly, is thought of as some kind of benevolent monarche, employing many in the small town. That night Tsara is kidnapped from her bedroom in the mansion. Michael Westbrook, her kidnapper, claims Cass has kidnapped several children from the village, including Michael's own six year old son. Michael plans to trade Tsara for the children. So starts "Wrong Place, Wrong Time", an aptly named mystery. Tsara and Michael end up running for their lives as two warped local police officers, who are owned by Cass, begin murderously pursuing both Michael and Tsara. Tsara's brother Court calls the FBI who begin searching for her and Michael. It is a race to find out who will find Tsara and Michael and whether they'll be found dead or alive. This thriller not only contains a terrific mystery but also includes the aftermath of what happens to victims of traumatic events. The author writes excellently about the effects of kidnapping on the victim. Jacobs also adroitly makes the reader even have pity for Micheal. Yes he did the wrong thing in kidnapping Tsara but through wonderful prose, Jacobs helps the reader see why he did what he did. I have found that an author must be very good to make psychological issues in their characters come off as real and believable.  Tilia Klebenov Jacobs successfully built complex and multiple layered characters in Tsara and Michael. It was a pleasure to read such an excellently rendered novel that was full of mystery, action, angst, pathos, regret and even redemption. Jacobs has written such a beautifully wrought novel that it certainly isn't just a mystery. It's so well worth the time. "Wrong Place, Wrong Time" has already been published so you're able to purchase it now. It is certainly worth your time and would make a perfect summer or fall read. I thought it deserved five stars, a truly compelling novel.

Not Much Suspense Tsara is a 42-year-old wife and mother who spends a weekend with her uncle and his family from whom she's been estranged for many years. While there, she is kidnapped by two men. According to her kidnapper, her uncle is holding several children hostage and awaiting payment from their parents. One of those children is his. His plan is to keep her until his son is returned. All of this is revealed within the first couple of chapters. The author sets up all kinds of hardships for Tsara and her kidnapper, Mike. For being an adult woman, she acts more like a petulant teenager throughout the story. The suspense was not all that suspenseful. I didn't connect with either of them. For reading enjoyment, this was just an OK book for me. I didn't hate it, but I didn't much like it, either. Thank you to Linden Tree Press/NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest opinion.

Suspense, intrigue, courage and forgiveness - these are the words that come to mind when I think of this book. It was obvious from the start that Tsara was a strong character, and she held her own in a family that seemed quite daunting. Even without the knowledge of an age old feud that had split the family years before, Cass made me question what type of man he was. Could he be trusted, or was he a snake in the grass? Obviously Tsara was just as weary, but she was willing to let go of the past; unfortunately, it was to her detriment. And I very quickly found out just how devious Cass was. This book is titled perfectly, because quite simply, Tsara was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. But if she hadn't been, the events that unfolded in this story may have gone down a very different route. And, although Tsara suffered and was traumatized, if she hadn't been in that room, families would never have been reunited, and things may have changed drastically for Mike. Her role in the events of this story changed many people's lives. So, perhaps, aside from the trauma Tsara was put through, it was a blessing in disguise. Perhaps she was in the right place, at the right time. This book was a very interesting read, I just wish I had connected with the characters a bit more. I felt very detached from the story and therefore didn't quite enjoy it as much as I would have expected.

Reviewed by Anne-Marie Reynolds for Readers' Favorite With Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Tilia Jacobs gives us the story of Tsara, a Jewish housewife who receives an invitation to a ball that she doesn’t really want to attend. The reason? It’s being held by her uncle with whom she has had no contact for nearly 25 years. Her husband stays home to look after the children while she attends with her brother. When they first arrive, her uncle’s security guards are evicting a man from the property for trespassing. During the course of the evening, her uncle’s best friend, Hans, swaps rooms with her with disastrous consequences.  When she turns in for the night 2 men break into her room and kidnap her, holding her hostage. One of the men is the one who was evicted earlier and, during the course of the next 2 days, it comes out that Tsara’s uncle has kidnapped the man’s 6-year-old son and he wants him back. Wrong Place, Wrong Time is an extremely well written book with an excellent plot. It follows the story from start to finish, not just the kidnapping, but how the victims deal with life afterwards and right through to the finale of the court case. It is a story of more than one person being in the wrong place at the wrong time and Tilia Jacobs draws everything together in one neat package. It is a little gritty in places but there is an underlying tale here of courage and bravery in one man’s bid to bring his son back home whatever the cost. Although I struggled a little to start with, I have to say that I found it hard to put down in the end, wanting nothing more than to get to the end and see how it all turned out.