Who Inspired Finding Claire Fletcher
by Lisa Regan
When I was eleven years old, Jacob Wetterling was abducted from a small Minnesota town. If you don’t know the story, Jacob, his brother and a friend were riding their bikes home from a local store where they had gone to rent a movie. A masked man with a gun stopped them. He chose Jacob and told the other boys to run. Jacob’s brother and friend ran home to alert their babysitter to what had happened. Jacob was never seen again.
I remember the news coverage like it was yesterday. It was one of those that-could-have-happened-to-me moments in my very young life. I was the same age as Jacob and I used to ride my bicycle all over my neighborhood without supervision. Decades passed and I never forgot Jacob or his mother Patty, who galvanized her community and still runs the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center which provides all kinds of resources for families and communities in terms of protecting children. I used that website when I needed reference materials to help me start talking to my own child about sensitive issues like strangers and good secret/bad secret.
All my life I wondered what happened to Jacob. His body was never recovered. Is he still alive? Every few years a story would appear on the national news, reminding us that he might still be out there somewhere. I would study the age progression photo and wonder if someone, somewhere, had run into him and not even known it!
I wondered what happens to these kids who are abducted but never heard from again? Finding Claire Fletcher is my fictional exploration of that. I started writing it years before abducted children like Elizabeth Smart, Shawn Hornbeck and Jaycee Lee Dugard were recovered. Of course in my novel, the abducted child is a girl and she is a teenager. I did many things with the plot to make the book more entertaining but essentially it came out of my what-if questions surrounding abducted children and that obsession began with Jacob Wetterling.
“Readers should drop what they’re reading and pick up a copy of Finding Claire Fletcher.” -Gregg Olsen, New York Times bestselling author
“A powerful, emotionally-charged story by a debut author you’ll want to keep an eye on!” -J.C. Martin, author of Oracle
Newly divorced and with his career in jeopardy, Detective Connor Parks takes solace in the arms of a beautiful woman he meets at a bar. The next morning, Claire Fletcher is gone, leaving nothing behind but an address and a decade-old mystery. The address leads to the Fletcher family home where Claire’s siblings inform Connor that their fifteen-year-old sister was abducted from a city street ten years ago and is presumed dead.
During those ten years, Claire endured the cruel torture and depravity of the man who abducted her. Paralyzed by fear and too ashamed to return to her family, Claire is resigned to her life as Lynn, the identity her abductor forced upon her. Every time she attempts escape or betrays him in the smallest way, someone dies. Even now, her clandestine run-in with Connor Parks may have put his life at risk, as well as the lives of her family.
Connor is convinced that not only is Claire Fletcher alive, but that she is also the woman he met at the bar. Driven to see her again, he begins his own investigation, off the clock and without the police department’s consent. He is determined to find her and unravel the mystery of her abduction and odd reemergence. But finding Claire Fletcher proves more dangerous than he anticipates. In fact, it may be deadly.
5-Stars! “. . .heart wrenching, suspense ridden, and eye opening.” -Amy Castellano, Chic Book Chick
5-Stars! “Her characters are strong and believable and they will fill you with emotions that will rock you.” -My Cozie Corner Book Reviews
5- Stars! “. . .This was a fantastic novel and I am looking forward to many, many more in the future.” -Alex J. Clatch, Amazon Reviewer
Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords
Genre – Psychological Thriller / Crime Fiction
Rating – R
More details about the author
Connect with Lisa Regan on Facebook & Twitter
Website http://www.lisaregan.com/
1 comments:
Thank you for hosting me! :)
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