September Day dealing with blizzard, murder

This week was busier that most, so I selected another e-book. This one was “Lost and Found” by Amy Shojai. The description says it is part of the “September Day” series, so that might explain the reason for the lack of background on the main character, September Day.

The story opens with September standing in the cold kitchen of her soon-to-be renovated Victorian house. A rare north Texas blizzard is piling up snow, and September is trying to find a way to do her radio show “Pet Peeves” from home. As an animal behavior specialist, she hopes the Q&A program will increase in her new business.

Salted within the story line, we find referrals to a stalker, a dead husband and a life of constant fear. We do know that she has returned to north Texas after some sort of tragedy in Indiana, but little more about her life there.

This is not a day to be on the road, but with no other options, she heads to the station. After answering a few caller pet problems, she takes a frantic call from her sister April. April’s 7-year-old son, Steven, is gone.

It appears that while the sitter was napping, Steven took his young service dog, Shadow, and went out into the storm, and April needs September’s help finding the boy. Time is of the essence because Steven is autistic and is on a new medication the must be taken on time.

September rushes to April’s house and finds Lizzie, a woman who claims to be one of Steven’s therapists. She says she wants to help, but won’t do anything until she is given a certain flash drive. No drive, no medication. She then takes April out to look for Steven, but kills the elderly sitter before she leaves.

Meanwhile, Steven and Shadow have followed his daily routine and walked to a nearby park. After a bit of play, the boy trudges through the drifts towards the place his mom usually picks him up. Shadow has a warm fur coat to keep him warm, but the little boy has only a light jacket for protection. Soon Steven simply lies down in the snow. Shadow wraps himself around the boy and waits.

Shadow forces a city bus to stop. Steven eventually shares his name and phone number so the driver calls April and arranges pick up at the mall. She’s unaware that she’s called a stone cold killer.

At the same time, September is frantically searching for the missing flash drive. As she goes, she must face her own fears and demons. The pieces come together slowly and show a great breech of ethics as doctors try to treat autism by using a strong animal medication. The patients do show improvement, but if a dose is missed they risk major emotional meltdowns and terrible violence.

Whatever is on the drive is valuable enough to kill for, and soon the body count goes up to three. September finds the drive, contacts Lizzie and sets up a meeting, but she wants to do it without police involvement.

While all this is going on, a bus filled with autistic children and their parents is heading to north Texas where they will receive the “miracle cure” all the treatments have been leading up to.

Can September, Officer Combs and Shadow work a miracle of their own to prevent more damage, or are all the children on the medication doomed to revert to their own private worlds? This is less than a thumbnail sketch of a tightly written thriller. It’s also a story of redemption, sacrificial love and determination.

Some books are easy to read and forget. Some linger as fond memories while others stick around and haunt us.

AT A GLANCE
BOOK: “Lost and Found”
AUTHOR: Amy Shojai
PUBLISHER: Furry Muse Publishing
PUBLISHED: Jan. 31, 2017
PAGES: 274