The Stolen Hours

By: Allen Eskens

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Christine Lakin, Tina Huang

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

From the best-selling author of The Life We Bury comes a "riveting, hold-your-breath" new mystery in which a woman finds herself in a race not only for justice - but for her life (Karin Slaughter, New York Times best-selling author of The Silent Wife).

Lila Nash is on the verge of landing her dream job - working as a prosecutor under the Hennepin County Attorney - and has settled into a happy life with her boyfriend, Joe Talbert. But when a woman is pulled from the Mississippi River, barely alive, things in the office take a personal turn.

The police believe the woman’s assailant is local photographer Gavin Spenser, but the case quickly flounders as the evidence wears thin. It seems Gavin saw this investigation coming - and no one can imagine how carefully he has prepared.

The more determined Lila is to put Gavin behind bars, the more elusive justice becomes. Battling a vindictive new boss and haunted by the ghosts of her own unspeakable attack, which she’s kept a dark secret for eight long years, Lila knows the clock is ticking down. In a race against an evil mastermind, it will take everything Lila’s got to outsmart a killer - and to escape the dark hold of her own past.

“In The Stolen Hours, there’s not a moment misplaced or a second lost. With the precision of a watchmaker, Eskens assembles the fine parts of a mystery and sets them to the tempo of a thriller, leaving the reader breathless.” (Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire Mysteries)

©2021 Allen Eskens (P)2021 Mulholland Books

Critic reviews

“A riveting, hold-your-breath, frightening mystery. The Stolen Hours is a thoroughly captivating legal thriller.” (Karin Slaughter, New York Times best-selling author of The Silent Wife)

"A rousing legal thriller that’s also an acute study of female victimization and male privilege." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

“In Allen Eskens’ newest thriller The Stolen Hours, there’s not a moment misplaced or a second lost. With the precision of a watchmaker, Eskens assembles the fine parts of a mystery set to the tempo of a thriller, leaving the reader breathless.” (Craig Johnson, New York Times best-selling author of the Longmire Mysteries)

Better then I expected!

I haven’t read/listened to book this good in a while. It kept me in tune the entire time! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes to read/listen to audio books!

An amazing story

This is the first book of listened to by Allen Eskens. Love the story and narrator did an awesome job. Can’t wait to find another exciting story. You will not be disappointed in The Stolen Hours.

Fantastic

I am fairly new to audible books. And I have not found one I really liked. This one I could not stop listening to, I absolutely loved it

as a fan

If you are a fan of the author you'll listen to this book. He dials up some good evil and weaves a good tale surrounding it. It's all set in the Twin Cities. Enjoy

Eskens Pens Another Winner!

This is another great entry in his Minnesota series!
Whilst we get far too little time with some of his recurring characters, this novel provides the reader another thrilling/intriguing adventure.

The character of Lila gets her “time to shine” in this well-written crime novel. My two critiques of this novel are that her boyfriend Joe is woefully underused (Lila was a strong character in his novels and Eskens could return the favour), and that whilst exploring trauma, Lila spares no time or thought to her challenging adventures facing down a killer in a previous Eskens novel.

I have a new favourite author!!

I just finished this trilogy. They are some of the most fun books I have ever read. They move into my favourite top five of all time. I loved the character development and the true emotions that I felt from all of them. I highly recommend them to anyone who just enjoys a good read

How NOT to be a Victim

Starts slow but stick with it. It is evident that the author put on a lot of work in writing this story. Readers/Listeners are privy to the “invisible struggle”associated with being drugged and raped, while trying to maintain a good relationship and pursuing a career. Sensitivity related to this topic is carefully laid out. There are other victims who go through harrowing experiences. The narration is good. Really did not notice that there are three narrators. The ending was totally unexpected. I have not heard or read another like it.

Can’t wait till he writes another one!

Absolutely love this authors books every single one. Love that they’re set in Minnesota and Listening to them on audible is spell binding. I can’t get my work done nor can I turn it off and go to bed. Just finished this one at 3:30 AM! Thank you Allen Eskens

Un-put-down-able

Early on, the story pulled me in and did not let go. If you read the other Eskens novels, Joe Talbot is a character, but a minor one. This book is about his girlfriend, Lila. Lila is a recent law school grad and working in the prosecutor's office. She ends out investigating a possible serial killer-rapist. Lila pursues that while dealing with her past demons of being a rape victim in high school. This book moves so well between the past and present. The criminal is a good one (meaning a really bad, hatable man). This was an addictive listen, one of my favorite thrillers in a long time. There is one issue - we are asked to believe in a ridiculous coincidence. It was so far-fetched it could have lost me as a reader. The rest of the book is so good that I was able to overlook that flaw, and I stilled loved this story. Eskens writes novels with characters you like. He keeps it up in this legal thriller.

The narration in this novel was great. It is a third person narrative, with three different readers, each connected to the main character in a chapter. All three were great and this made for an easy-to-follow listen.

Excellent

As is everything he has written, this book is EXCELLENT! Loved it - thank you Mr. Eskens!