There are no evil regimes or terrorists in C.J. Box’s Three Weeks to Say Goodbye. But it still packs the kind of punch few thrillers, or novels of any kind, ever do, thanks to its gut-wrenching premise.

Jack and Melissa McGuane have been living their dream of a happy family for nine months when they learn custody of their adopted daughter is in jeopardy because the baby’s wayward teenage biological father never signed off his parental rights. The McGuanes’ nightmarish struggle to keep their baby runs them afoul of her grandfather, a despicably menacing Denver judge. The result is an escalating series of violent events, as things spiral irrevocably out of control.

The great thing about the emotionally shattering Three Weeks to Say Goodbye is that Jack and Melissa, and everyone else, for that matter, are ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. This is a book that poses the question How far would you go?, and answers it masterfully with sensitivity and aplomb.

-- By Jon Land

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