Twenty-five years ago, four kids entered a dark forest. Only three came out. Everyone was a suspect. One man was condemned. The police closed the case. A mother became obsessed. Still haunted by her brother’s disappearance and the high profile murder trial that gripped the nation, New York homicide detective, Kara Walker deals with survivor’s guilt by tracking down killers. But as the … killers. But as the anniversary of her brothers abduction approaches, Kara receives news of her mother’s death and is drawn back to her rural hometown in the Olympic Peninsula to tie up loose ends. She soon makes a shocking discovery that brings into question the facts surrounding her brother’s case, her mother’s obsession, and the man who pled not guilty.
In a race against time to find the real killer, Kara must risk losing her mind, jeopardize the safety of those close and face her darkest fear, all to answer the question — who is truly innocent?
Full of twists and turns that keep you guessing, I’m Still Here delivers a captivating mystery thriller that forces you to question how far you would go to solve the disappearance of a loved one.
more
I enjoyed this book and could not put it down. The characters kept me guessing right to the end. I strongly recommend this book.
This is the first book by Jon Mills that I have read and it won’t be the last. I could not put this book down once I started reading it. The main character, Kara Walker, is a New York detective who doesn’t believe in giving up until the case is solved. The book starts with a 14 year old Kara running away with two friends after a masked man grabs her brother and threatens to kill him if they turn around and do not run away. Twenty-five years later, she is called home when her Mother commits suicide. She finds out her Mother has continued to search for her brother’s kidnapper even though a man was convicted twenty years ago and the case was closed. Kara teams up with a local detective, Noah Coleman. The suspects keep turning up but the actual kidnapper is a twist and a shocker when his identity is revealed. Is Kara ‘ s brother still alive when the kidnapper is revealed? You will have to read the book to find out. I highly recommend this book for thrills and chills.
Disappointing. I liked the premise but as I read I was increasingly disengaged from the characters and plot.
Kara Walker’s life was shattered in her early teens with the abduction of her younger brother. Her parents deal with the tragedy each in their own way, with her mother obsessed with finding out the truth and her father turning inward with the bottle, and both seemingly forgetting they still had one child. Kara spends more time with her Uncle and Aunt than at home, eventually going into law enforcement, though on the other side of the country. There she builds a career and a new family while barely connecting anymore with her parents. Her mother’s death brings her reluctantly back home, and slowly, she starts to follow up on her mother’s research.
While clearly a family riven with disfunction following the trauma of Charlie’s abduction, I didn’t buy into the lack of contact between Kara and her mother in all those years apart. There was so little depth given to Kara’s new family that I wondered why they were even part of the story. Oh, and I guessed the ending by a third of the way through.
I did like the Kara-Noah dynamic, and I found the dialogue very natural. In the end though, the story got too disjointed and unrealistic, and I was skipping through to get to the last pages.
A good and solid mystery/thriller. I discovered this book after reading Mills Maine Murders and really liked it (I have the New York Murders in my to-read list). This story kind of reminded me of other mystery/thrillers that I liked and that’s ok. I’m not one of those readers who become annoyed because one story reminds me of others. I’m more interested in the authors ability to develop great characters along with an interesting plot culminating into an exciting story.
I discovered I’m Still Here when it was on sale. Although the author was unfamiliar to me, I decided to give it a try.
Kara Walker is a criminal investigator with the New York State Police. When her father calls to say her mother died by suicide, Kara returns to Washington state for the funeral.
Twenty-five years earlier, her brother Charlie was kidnapped on Halloween night. Kara and a couple of friends witnessed the incident but were unable to identify the kidnapper. Charlie’s body was never found and the incident all but destroyed her family. A man was convicted and sent to prison, but he claimed he was innocent.
Anna Walker refused to put the incident behind her. She searched, investigated, kept records, and went to investigators numerous times. Many people believed she was mentally unstable—the grieving mother who couldn’t accept the truth.
After the funeral, Kara begins to look through her mother’s research. Four other boys were also kidnapped, each five years apart, all on Halloween night. Kara believes there is a connection. With the help of Detective Noah Goodman and a retired FBI agent, Kara begins to investigate. If history repeats itself another young boy will be kidnapped on Halloween and there are only a few days to solve the case.
I was a bit skeptical when I saw the book was around 400 pages as I dislike rambling. The book had a lot of characters and at times, I had a hard time keeping up. While there were some parts that could be cut, the story held my interest. I did believe I’d figured out the perp about halfway through, but with the cast of characters and “clues” pointing to others, I had all but forgotten when the truth was revealed.
Three and a half stars for this one rounded up to four for review purposes.
I enjoyed the story. A little far reaching for the characters and the plot, but enjoyable non-the-less. My one negative comment that has nothing to do with the story is that a yellow lab was called a golden lab. There’s no such animal. A yellow lab is called “yellow” to differentiate it from a golden retriever. Two different AKC breeds.
Good story line. Kept you interested the whole time and at the end you just kept reading the book until it was finished.
Wonderful series of books that has intriguing characters carried throughout the 3 books. Some mystery to each book and entertaining reading. Not easy to figure each mysterious death and how each of the main characters interact together.
This mystery caught my attention immediately and kept me turning the pages to the very end. There was suspense. I saw do many potential murders and it kept me guessing to the very end. I will be looking for more books by Jon Mills.
This book is about a woman who is determined to find out what happened to her brother 25 years ago.
Only complaint was some of the language. Would have been just as good without!
This book has a good premise that keeps you turning pages. But it does have some bad language, which is totally unnecessary.
Thriller/mystery does an excellent job of developing unique characters and plot twists. Suspected who the bad guy would be, but wasn’t sure until the end.
Great book! Kept me wanting to NOT put it down! Will definitely look for more from this author.
I enjoyed the book and the story line. It was an easy, quick read.
I was so sad to have this end differently than I expected. But enjoyed the journey. I could read this book again. Sad but entrancing.
Good plot with great characters. Easy to follow. Quick read.
Did not like the ending, but otherwise great read.
I am not one of those people who claim to know who done it seven paragraphs into the book but this time I guessed the killer on the first meeting. They just seemed to have VILLAIN stamped on their forehead. That’s OK. I can read a decently written story and wait for the protagonist to catch up. And the story was decent (although there were a few odd word choices I thought an editor might have suggested changing). My problem was the main character. I really liked her, until I didn’t. Late in the book I thought she was borderline abusive toward a mentally impaired guy. And in the final conflict she made a choice which was kind of understandable but IMO not very professional and IRL might have gotten her in career-threatening trouble.
If you usually try to guess/solve the who-done-its while you are reading, don’t bother here. You can’t keep up!