Gordon Korman’s Kidnapped Book Review Character Backgrounds: tThis is a mystery story that follows the lives of the four members of the Falconer family. The family consists of the mother; Louise Falconer, the father; John Falconer, and their two kids, Aidan who’s 15 years old and Meg who’s 11 years old. John and Louise Falconer were doctors until one day they were sentenced to life in prison because they were accused of helping foreign terrorists. The Falconer family was now extremely well known and hated by the whole nation, including the children. The couple was in jail for 14 months until they were proven innocent because they were framed. During the time the Falconer parents were in jail, their two kids were in a juvenile detention center until they escaped. Aidan and Meg were now fugitives and were on the run for eight weeks. Eventually the entire Falconer family was reunited and tried to live a normal life though they were still hated by millions. Overview:tThe family tried to lead normal lives but it was especially difficult for Aidan and Meg. The most significant detail is that the Falconers are disliked by the majority of the people in the nation. Therefore, it causes people to take violent acts against them and be mean to them because they want to seek their own type of ‘revenge’ even though the Falconers were proven innocent. They had lost all their friends due to the incident and they often found themselves alone. “How long would this go on? They’d been back at school for a month and a half. Surely things should be getting easier by now. Were he and Meg doomed to be outcasts and misfits forever?” (Korman, 15). Luckily, Aidan still had one friend by the name of Richie. One day, while the kids were walking home from school, a white van drove up to them and out came three people in masks. One in a Mickey Mouse mask, one in a Tiger Woods mask, and the other in a Spider-Man mask. They suddenly took a handkerchief, put it over Megs nose and mouth and she passed out. The handkerchief had chloroform on it. They put Meg in the back of their van and drove away. Aidan chased the van trying to rescue his sister but it was too late. Meg was taken to a part of town where there is tons of abandoned factories and her kidnappers take her into one and thats where she is kept. Meg attempts to escape from her kidnappers a total of three times. Meg is a very persistent young girl who doesn’t give up. Everytime she tries to escape she is almost successful but right as you think she’s going to succeed she doesn’t. Eventually Meg sees the faces of her kidnappers during one of her escape attempts because they’re usually in their masks. She then constantly believes she is going to be killed now that she’s actually seen them and could now possibly describe them to the police if she ever got away. This could be a way of foreshadowing what might happen in the next book. “She remembered a piece of wisdom from her father’s Mac Mulvey novels. When you’ve seen your kidnappers’ faces, it usually means they’re going to kill you to keep you from identifying them after your release. Had Meg just signed her own death warrant?” (Korman, 63).You also read about how the rest of the Falconers are doing while Meg is missing. The Falconers are working with the FBI and you see how the FBI tries to unfold the situation. Because the Falconer family is so well known by the public, there is constantly press outside their home. Chapter Layout and Narration:tEvery other chapter in the book is from Megs perspective and what shes going through while being kidnapped along with the different ways she tries to escape and send out clues to the public from captivity. While the other chapters are from Aidans perspective of what’s going on back at home. How the family is feeling, what the FBI is doing about it, and different leads they get to find Meg. tThis book is narrated in first and third person. Some points you are reading the book as if you are in one of the characters head and at other points it’s being narrated in third person. The Ending:tThis book is part of a two part series which I did not realize until I was finished with the book and it left off on a cliffhanger. This is the first book in the series. If you want to know whether or not Meg gets rescued from her kidnappers you would have to read the second book as well. The second book leaves off where this first one ends. tThe book finishes off with a very exciting and nerve-racking adventure where the kidnappers send an e-mail to the Falconers telling them that they need Aidan to meet them at a specific phone booth with 2 million dollars in cash and then they will give Meg back to them. But Aidan needs to be completely alone or there will be ‘consequences’. The FBI gets the money needed and Aidan goes to the phone booth. The kidnappers lead him all over town until eventually he get to a giant parade where the kidnappers try and take the money and Aidan ends up in the hospital. You’ll need to read the book to find out all the details. That’s where the book ends. Meg is still in captivity and the huge attempt at rescuing her was a failure. My Personal Opinion:tThis book is very easy to read and follow. The language used is quite simple which also makes it sort of a boring book to read. Therefore, it’s not incredibly well written. The book moves at a fairly quick pace which keeps you hanging on and entertained most of the time. I really wasn’t too fond of the ending. When I read a book I want to be able to know the outcome of the book when I am done reading it and with this book, you don’t get the pleasure of doing that. I would say this book is directed towards younger kids. Ages 10 and up. Overall it was a good book and I enjoyed reading it, especially for the age group it was directed at.
After On The Run, it seems Gordon Korman didn't want to let the Falconer family's adventures stop there, and so we get this sequel series that completely changes the dynamic, but has a lot in common with the first series.Meg has been kidnapped. The kidnappers tried to take Aiden as well, but failed. Now the two are separated.One of the best features of the predecessor book series, On The Run, was the way Aiden and Meg worked together as brother and sister, living through their terrible situation together as they tried to search for clues together, while avoiding the many people out to get them. In Kidnapped, they are permanently separated. Meg is held prisoner in one location or another, and Aiden is trying to find her.There's still plenty of character interplay though; it's just with different characters. Meg interacts with her three kidnappers, all of whom have very different personalities and motivations for keeping her captive. One of them is a jerk, another cold and heartless, and the last seems to be a nice enough guy - other than the whole kidnapping thing, of course - and seems like he doesn't really want to be involved. Naturally, Meg tries to play him off of the other captors and take advantage of his frequent kindness.Aiden, meanwhile, has to deal with his friend Richie, who desperately wants to help and tries to get involved.Plus, there's the FBI help as well. Agent Emmanuel Harris is assigned to the case, and the family doesn't totally trust him considering, well, his role in the first book series. Aware of his past mistake, Harris wants to get this done as professionally as possible.Finally, some snobby blogger who calls himself "The Blog Hog" convinces the family to let him help them out. Somehow, he manages to get the kidnappers to contact him rather than the family, and seems to have access to information that everyone else can't get. The family quickly comes to trust him over the FBI.Yes, that's a lot of characters. The first book series focused only on four or five major characters, and here we've got quite a lot. That's in part because while the first series was a chase story, this has a very different focus. It's about people trying to outwit each other. The kidnappers want to outwit the FBI. The FBI wants to outwit the kidnappers. Meg wants to escape, and even turn them against each other if possible by playing off their personality contrasts. And Aiden doesn't trust the FBI to be competent at their job, and tries to outwit the kidnappers his own way. There's a lot going on, and it's chaotic at times.But it's also fast, exciting, and unpredictable at times. It's a very fun story.
What do You think about The Abduction (2006)?
I really liked this book it was really fast paced and really funny. My favorite part in the book is when Meg Falconer tries to escape from her captors. She is smart and relies on what she can get her hands on to try and find out how to escape.Her and her brother adian were fugitives when her parents were in jail for somthing that they didnt do. She was trying to get away from her captors and she some how made a whole in the roof and she climbed out of the hole to try to send a message to her brother to come and find her. While she was trying to get out she wakes up her captors. Adien her brother is the only one who saw the insadent and is the only one that can save her. Agent Harris the one that put her parents in jail is on the case to try and find Meg! Goden Korman is a great author he has writen alot of other book that are fun to read. Just think about this one question, Will Adien Ever Find Meg????
—Myah Malchow
Kidnapped is a action filled book with excitment in every sentence! Meg Falconer a twelve year old girl has been kidnapped and Aiden Falconer, Meg's older brother, sets off on a quest to find her. Both kids are very fimiliar with the phrase,"Escape," but the consequences could be much more fatal. The kidnappers are constantly change locations with Meg which makes it very difficult to find them. Aiden and Meg are two tough kids who know how to defend themselves when needed and this is extremley important considering that they live in the brutal urban city they call home.The author does such a good job of making me feel as if I'm in the book with jaw dropping chapters that'll leave you breathless. The plot of the book is very well structed and full of detail. The author uses a nerve racking style that'll have you nearly ripping off the pages of your book which you will commonly experrions in his other books, and on top of the great sense of style the author uses he developes an amazingtheme. Anyone who likes suspensful action books will enjoy this story of two kids who just want to live a normal life as normal kids
—Jon R.
I loved this book. I really reacted to it well. I couldn't stop reading especially when it was suspenseful. In fact I couldn't stop reading at all because it was suspenseful the whole book! It never really slowed down and always had something going on. This book was also a fast read. I read it really fast, also because it was really good! The book was a pretty fast read. The thing I liked most about the book was that the characters really portrayed a real person who had horrible things happen to them. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.
—Hannah Howard
