Book ~ "Someone Saw Something" (2024) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ A missing child is every parent’s worst nightmare. For journalist Corina Corado, it’s a terrifying reality. 

When six-year-old Gabriel vanishes from Central Park, his mother, news anchor Corina Corado, is desperate for answers. Who would take her son - and why? 

Detectives suspect there’s a connection to the barrage of hate mail Corina’s received over the years. In her line of work, it’s not unusual for agitated conspiracy theorists to send messages that threaten violence … or worse. But as the investigation deepens, the secrets that Corina, her husband, Robert, and her stepdaughter, Charlotte, have kept start to unravel. As the truth behind Gabriel’s disappearance emerges, Corina must race the clock to track down her missing child…before paying the ultimate price.

Corina is married to Robert and they have two children ... Charlotte is sixteen and Gabriel is six. Robert was supposed to pick up Gabriel after school but he's tied up in a meeting at the last minute so Corina asks Charlotte. Charlotte and Gabriel cut through the park so Gabriel can fly the airplane he had just built. She's texting her older boyfriend she isn't supposed to have and isn't paying attention and Gabriel disappears. The police are called and the hunt is on. 

I've read a few books by this author and thought this one was okay. There were so many side stories (aka red herrings) and I felt the book could have been edited down so it wasn't so long and drawn out. Corina is a journalist and had been getting death threats from a conspiracy theory group followers, Corina feels Robert is hiding something (an affair perhaps?), Charlotte is still in contact with the boyfriend though her parents had told her to stop, Corina has a sleazy boss who had put the moves on her and then threatened her, a rival network keeps broadcasting that Corina had been so desperate for a baby that she stole one from a dying mother in Nicaragua and illegally adopted him (ie Gabriel), how are the Russians involved, and more. She does have the support of her news team, friends and a support group that is helping to find Gabriel.

It is written in third person perspective with the focus on wherever the action is. The ending came together quickly and was a bit a letdown for me. I thought Corina acted rashly at times, thus putting Gabriel in danger, and not letting the police do their job.