Sara’s Game (Sara Winthrop #1) by Ernie Lindsey
Two years ago, Sara’s husband left for the gym one morning…and never came back. His car was found. He wasn’t. Unbelievably, the police report said, “No foul play suspected.” There were a few unreliable sightings over the following months, but little else.
Now, on the last day before summer break, her three children have gone missing from their schools, all at the same time.
And the note under her windshield wiper asks one simple question: Are you ready to play the game?
About Author
Ernie Lindsey grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia, working on the family farm and reading, and has spent his life telling stories to anyone that will listen. He currently works as a freelance writer and is the author of five Mystery & Suspense novels and numerous short stories. When he’s not writing, you can find him tackling the gigantic To Be Read list on his Kindle or the never-ending stack of books in his office.
Ernie and his family live in Oregon, along with a multi-fingered Hemingway cat named Luna.
Main Characters
- Sara Winthrop – ur main character, stuck in the whole “play the game or else” situation. She’s written as resourceful and tough and smart. She has three kids.
- Teddy – Sara’s boss’s son, not a good person, prime suspect.
- Tim – Sara’s boss
- DJ – Detective Jon Jon. The junior detective, very smart, very human.
- Detective Barker– Natalie and Dawn’s boss; favours Natalie, charming but not deeply trustworthy.
- Mrs Willow – Babysitter who looks after Sara’s kids whenever needed
Recap
Sara’s Game is basically a female version of Die Hard, the first movie where John Mclaine solves puzzles setup by the villain. Sara’s kids are kidnapped, all three at once, and she’s pulled into a high-stakes phone game setup. where someone is controlling things from the other end of a call, giving instructions, setting up challenges, and forcing her to play along. Sara is forced to strip down at a garden, let go of all her belongings, run for several kilometers… you get the weariness of the game in your bones. All the while she’s also trying to figure out who it is that they know so much about her and her life?
As the story goes on, Sara works through a series of puzzles and tasks while trying to figure out who’s behind everything and why. There’s a sense of growing tension with shifting alliances and hidden motives, especially with the people connected to Sara’s workplace.
Notes
8%
She’d caught a tall, good-looking guy in a white (or was it gray?) collared shirt staring at her. She remembered amazing blue eyes. Short, dark hair. Tan skin.
Shabana Mukhtar: Like how on-point the description is. Need to learn this.
9%
Some things never changed.
Shabana Mukhtar: Simple yet profound
11%
Mrs. Bennett’s mouth tried to produce a response, but no words came out. Lips and jaw and tongue working overtime, producing nothing. She’d gotten stuck in an infinite loop, the same kind of bug in a programmer’s code that left a game character repeating the same action over and over.
27%
“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”Shabana Mukhtar: Words I say to myself every day.
31%
“Seagull owner?” “Flies in, shits on everything, and then leaves.”
Shabana Mukhtar: That’s painfully funny. I know some seagull owners.
32%
People want to talk, DJ. Listening is an art. Hearing is biology.
33%
“Is Teddy a suspect?”“You’re doing great…Little One.”
Shabana Mukhtar: So far, good job of making a list of suspects: Brian, Mrs Willow, Teddy (twice) and Shelly (not directly but my head says so because of “woman”) but Teddy is too obvious
1. Are you ready to play the game
2. Breakaway
3. Little one
These are ploys to make Teddy a suspect, I think. And Teddy is so obviously a suspect, it can’t be him.
35%
“I can’t do that, Sara.” Sara ran into an invisible wall, screeching to a halt. Oh no. The biker pedaled faster, shouting over her shoulder, “That’s not how the game is played.”
36%
Shelley’s latest copywriting masterwork?
Shabana Mukhtar: I think Brian and Shelly are somehow linked. Shelly joined a short while back and is too good apparently at work, so… Too good to be true, y’know?
38%
So the girl who knows the most about Sara and the guy who has a connection to the note are both gone, and they left around the same time. Coincidence?
46%
“What if she was planted here?”
Shabana Mukhtar: I have same instinct, just to throw off the investigation
94%
Visting cemetry…
Shabana Mukhtar: Jon Jon?
Review
Sara’s Game was a pretty quick, easy read. The pacing was good and I’ll give it credit, some of the puzzles were actually interesting enough to keep me engaged.
But honestly… a lot of it felt way too predictable, as you may have guessed from my notes. The red herrings were so obvious they barely felt like misdirection, and the big reveals didn’t really hit because I saw most of them coming. The whole “person on the other end of the call” situation and their weird, twisted dynamic with their allies? Yeah, called it early.
Also, I don’t know if it’s just me being burnt out after reading a few Frieda McFadden books, but I’m *so* over the whole “I’m dangerous, too” thing. It shows up here again and it just feels… tired. Like, since when did being a psychopath become the go-to personality trait for “strong female character”? It’s starting to feel less edgy and more copy-paste. I mentioned the same in Book Review | The Coworker | Freida McFadden so if it feels repetitive, you know how I feel.
Overall, it’s not bad if you want something fast and mildly entertaining, but it didn’t really surprise me or stick with me.
Final Take
Read it if you like fast-paced, oft predictable thrillers.
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Until next time, happy reading!
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