If creepy books disturb you, may I suggest giving anything written by Jennifer McMahon a wide berth? And by wide, I mean don't even look at the covers (they're disquieting, anyway), don't read the plot descriptions on the jacket flaps, and definitely don't skim the first pages. If you do, you'll be stuck. Then, you'll hate yourself for reading something so ... creepy. I'm not talking creepy in the familiar vampire/zombie/demon/werewolf way either, I'm talking about the worst kind of creepy - the kind humans perpetrate every day.

Consider yourself warned.

Island of Lost Girls begins with recent college graduate Rhonda Farr, who stops at the local gas station to fill up before heading to Burlington, Vermont, for a job interview. She's got so much on her mind - the job she doesn't really want, but needs for her resume; Peter, the man she wants, but can't have; the constant-ness of life in small-town Pike's Crossing; Peter, Peter, Peter - that she doesn't realize she's witnessing the kidnapping of a small child until it's too late. When Rhonda describes the kidnapper to the police, they seem a little skeptical. A 6-foot tall white rabbit snatching little Ernestine Florucci? At the gas station? In plain sight? But Rhonda knows what she saw. She also knows, with terrifying certainty, that she's seen the rabbit costume before. Thirteen years before, to be exact, right before her childhood friend, Lizzy, disappeared. Never to be seen again.

Rhonda's so shaken up by the whole experience that she can barely function. While she gives statements to the police and helps look for the missing girl (even though the child's mother accuses her of being involved in the crime), Rhonda searches for clues that will lead to Ernie's rescue. She refuses to believe what others in town are saying - that Peter is involved - but the more evidence she finds, the worse things are looking for her old friend. And if Peter's capable of hurting little Ernie Florucci, could he have done something to Lizzy all those years ago? Torn between her feelings for Peter and her desperate need to know the truth, Rhonda will solve the mystery of the lost girls, even if it means losing the man she loves forever.

(Readalikes: Reminded me a little of Tomorrow River and Whistling in the Dark, both by Lesley Kagen)

Grade: B-

If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for strong language, violence and sexual content

To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of Island of Lost Girls from the generous folks at Harper Collins and TLC Book Tours, for whom this review was written.