C J Box

Jack McGuane is a Travel Development Specialist for the Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau. His wife Melissa works at a local hotel. They’re a loving couple whose happiness is made complete when they adopt Angelina, a beautiful baby girl whose teen mother has chosen to give her up for adoption. Then one day their world is shattered. Jack gets a call from the adoption agency through which the McGuanes adopted Angelina. It seems that the child’s biological father never waived his parental rights and has decided to exercise them. At first, it seems like some terrible mix-up. But when the McGuanes’ adoption lawyer refuses to get involved, Jack McGuane knows something is going on.It turns out that Angelina’s biological father is eighteen-year-old Garrett Moreland, whose father John Moreland is a powerful local judge who fully intends to support his son. In fact, a few days later, both Morelands visit the McGuanes. During the visit, Judge Moreland offers to do everything in his considerable power to replace (as if that were possible) Angelina with another child. He even hints at bribery. Unmoved, the McGuanes refuse. Moreland then tells them that they have three weeks – 21 days – to surrender Angelina to the court.

Despite Judge Moreland’s explanation that Garrett is ready to be a father and that Angelina should be with “her family,” the McGuanes are quite sure that Garrett Moreland has no desire at all to be a father and that there is some other explanation for his sudden interest in Angelina. So they decide to do whatever they can to prevent the Morelands from taking their child.

With help from Jack’s friend Detective Cody Hoyt and another detective, Jason Torkleson, the McGuanes slowly begin to find out some disturbing truths about the Moreland family. The more they learn, the more frightening becomes the prospect of releasing Angelina to that family. So the McGuanes and their friends prepare to do whatever is necessary to keep Angelina. But the Morelands are a force to be reckoned with, and there’s a lot at stake here. So “whatever is necessary” takes Jack McGuane into territory he never imagined. In the end, the McGuanes’ desperate efforts to keep their daughter safe end up leading them to do things they never would have dreamed. One of the most important elements in this novel is the highly-charged suspense and sense of urgency. Part of that comes from the fact that the story is told from Jack McGuane’s point of view. He loves his daughter more than anything, and we feel his sense of desperation as the time to relinquish her gets closer and closer. The suspense also comes as we learn about the Moreland family and what they are capable of doing and willing to do. At each turn in the novel, the stakes get higher as the McGuanes and their friends find themselves in more and more danger. What’s especially effective is that the danger is not melodramatic; it’s entirely believable. The pacing and timing of the novel also adds to the suspense. The action happens quickly and we really do not know what’s going to happen next.Another important element in the story is the set of characters. We care about Jack and Melissa McGuane. We hurt for them as they are faced with the awful possibility of losing their child. Perhaps it’s because I’m an adoptive parent myself, so your mileage, as the saying goes, may vary. But this couple and their heart-wrenching situation are absorbing and compelling. It’s hard not to sympathise with them. We see the havoc wrought on their marriage, too, as the time to relinquish Angelina gets closer, and that only makes them more human.

There’s a set of very interesting and thought-provoking questions raised in the novel. Just how far should a person go to right a wrong? How much is one willing to do to protect one’s family? What about the taking of the law into one’s own hands? Is that ever right? Those aren’t easy questions to answer and the novel doesn’t pretend to do so. But it does raise them, so there’s plenty of “food for thought.”

A thriller that explores a very human drama, Three Weeks to Say Goodbye also asks some tough questions and examines what happens when people with frightening and ugly skeletons in their proverbial closets get into power.

Review by Margot Kinberg, Confessions of a Mystery Writer