In an instant, Jennifer’s life is forever altered.When her ten-year-old daughter, Sarah, is abducted in Dubai, expats Jennifer and her husband Kevin are thrown into an unimaginable nightmare. With very little help provided by the local authorities and the US Embassy, Jennifer watches her life erode away and the tension in her marriage increase. Driven by rage and desperation, she is forced to … forced to make decisions she never thought possible.
An investigation without answers. A cover-up. A conspiracy. A betrayal.
There is no turning back.
What would you do if your child was taken?
Desert Rose was named ‘Most Promising Manuscript’ at the 2018 Alaskan Writers Guild Conference.
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Desert Rose is likely my favorite book from 2019.
When an ex-pat mother finds her daughter has been kidnapped in Dubai, she begins a race against time and a battle against a culture, where a woman has no place or say in the system, to find her daughter.
K. Moore paints a detailed picture of society and culture with tense, scary moments every parent prays they don’t have to face.
Reviewed on behalf of KindleFriendsForever
This is the author’s debut novel and I am quite impressed with her writing style and the tight plot. This stunning standalone psychological suspense will blow you away.
Kevin and Jennifer together with their two children: twelve-year-old Liam and ten-year-old Sarah live an idyllic expat’s life in Dubai. A pampered lifestyle in an oil-rich country, it all seems perfect until the day Jennifer went shopping with her kids and lost one of them.
Told in first person narrative, Jennifer and Kevin’s biggest nightmare happens when their daughter Sarah was abducted. Dealing with the trauma, the cracks that have been slowly seeping through their marriage start to appear. Reading through this story, I thought that the author either did her research very well on the Middle East lifestyle or she has lived through the experience herself.
Having spent ten years of my life in the Middle East like the main character Jennifer, I felt like being thrown back in time. I had fond memories of my own when living that life and the author’s well-written account of these characters felt so real to me. The author captured the true essence of a wealthy Arab country that may have all the modern technology: state-of-the-art skyscrapers, man-made islands, hotels with gold ceilings etc., but when you dig deeper underneath all that glitter, there still remains a society where women are considered second class citizens and human rights are considered an indulgence.
There are so many harrowing moments in this tale, I got the goosebumps. That feeling of helplessness and frustration when dealing with the authorities and the betrayal within the family was also eloquently narrated by the author. The emotions I felt when reading Jennifer’s story made me want to reach inside my Kindle and strangle Kevin. However short secondary character Lieutenant Ahmed’s role was, he actually made a significant impact on the lives of the family. Jennifer’s courage and resilience shine through, especially in the second part of the book. This cautionary tale might bring you a lot of emotional turmoil: grief, heartbreak, betrayal, courage and closure, but it is definitely worth reading. I highly recommend it!
I have a love/hate relationship with this book. I hated it because it gave me panic attacks, anxiety, and I very nearly hyperventilated at one point. I became so aggravated with the patriarchal society of Dubai and the events that Jennifer was forced to endure. But I loved this book because it was able to invoke all those emotions in me. The writing pulled me in and refused to let me go even when Jennifer’s world was falling apart at her feet and I came so close to giving up on the story I had to find out what happened. Told in a first person POV by Jennifer as her and her family go through this horrible ordeal. I was kind of hoping at one point Jennifer would go Liam Neeson on everyone’s ass and find her daughter that way but no K. Moore sticks to a very realistic chain of events; frighteningly realistic. Overall, I did give this four stars out of five because it was emotional and it was a addictive read once I picked it up I didn’t put it down until almost four hours later, except for the brief almost panic attack I had toward the end, I had to stop while I calmed down.
AMAZING BOOK!!! I absolutely loved this story!
K. Moore’s debut novel is an outstanding and gripping story set in Dubai, where laws and culture are so different from the Occident.
It’s amazing how K. Moore’s words can drag you into the story as if you were the character living it and when that happens, you know you are reading a book from a great author!
In this book, so well written, you can feel the despair of a mother that suddenly loses her ten year old daughter and her journey to find her back.
I’m not going to lie. I shiver just thinking about the possibility to lose my son, that’s something I don’t even want to imagine, but losing him in a foreign country, with laws and culture so different from mine, that is plainly terrifying!
The story in itself it’s very emotional. Jen, the mother, does everything she can to make sure Sara, her daughter, is found but in Dubai things aren’t as easy as they seem to be in other countries, so she see’s herself facing several difficulties with the police and the embassy. If that wasn’t enough, her trembling marriage is crashing too, leaving her desperate and lonely.
I want to make a point here about everything that is described to the reader in a way you understand and absorb, laws and behaviors, smells and feelings. You definitely dive into the story!
In the end and although this is a standalone story, you can’t help but want more!
I hope K. Moore gives us a little more about those lost years!