What Happened to the Bennetts, Lisa Scotoline, author; Eduardo Ballerini, narrator
The Bennetts, Jason, Lucinda, Ethan, his older sister 15-year-old Allison, and their dog Moonie, are in their brand-new Mercedes, driving home from Allison’s field hockey game. They are in good spirits because Allison’s team won their game and Allison scored a goal.
When Ethan remarks that there is a pick-up truck on their tail, Jason does not give it a second thought. The pick-up makes no attempt to pass them, but gets closer and closer, seemingly to taunt them. Jason is going the speed limit and does not want anyone to call 911. Suddenly, when rounding a curve, the truck speeds up and cuts them off, trapping them when it stops short in front of them. On the curve, it is too dangerous for them to back up and escape. When the two male passengers, Milo and Junior, exit from the pick-up, with weapons drawn, Lucinda finally decides to call 911. The thugs notice and stop her. When they demand the keys to the Mercedes, Jason doesn’t fight them. He quietly hands them over because his family’s safety comes before the car. Out of the blue, the dog Moonie leaps forward and spooks the carjackers. One of the men who had been leering at Allison is startled. and he fires his weapon. He misses the dog, but the errant bullet hits Allison. While the Bennetts tend to Allison’s wounds, Milo, one of the thugs, shoots and kills the other, Junior. He leaves the gun at the scene and blames the murder on Jason. Junior’s father is George Veria, a mob boss. Why did he do that? What else is at play here? George will now go after the Bennetts. A vendetta must be satisfied.
So begins a nightmare for the Bennett family. What seemed like a carjacking gone awry, turns into a far more terrible tragedy that involves murder, crooked cops, crooked FBI agents, crooked politicians, crooked mobsters, witness protection, vengeance and family secrets that when revealed threaten to upend the Bennett’s lives even further. It turns out that a convoluted plot has been hatched, and at the core of it is a little remembered moment in Jason’s past.
When the Bennett’s are taken into Witness Protection, and over the course of the following days, no one is caught for the crimes, they will begin to wonder whether or not this was simply a carjacking gone wrong. Why were the cops slow walking this? What was the ultimate reason for the carjacking? Was it something more sinister? Was something in Lucinda’s past the reason for it? Was it something in Jason’s past? Rumors will fly when the family disappears, as they must for the witness protection program. In addition to losing their daughter, the Bennetts now lose all connection to their former lives. Some conjecture that Jason killed them all. An amateur detective makes matters worse when he gets Lucinda’s best friend to reveal a secret.
There is a very sinister plot here. It involves crooked politicians, gang members and law enforcement officers that make deals with the devil. It will lead Jason to risk his life to uncover the murderer and obtain justice for his family. As they watch friends and busybodies, social media and journalists become rumormongers making matters worse for them, they become alarmed. They will question their love, loyalty, fidelity and devotion. Can they forgive any of the actors in this horrible train of events? Will they be able to deal with their terrible loss?
It is a good story, but it lacks real plausibility as Jason Bennett goes up against people far more powerful than he is, risking everything to find the murderer of his daughter and uncover the real reason for the hijacking. He wants justice! They all deserve the truth, but the way in which he goes about it lacks credence. There are a series of questionable coincidences that lead to the eventual resolution with far too many tangents making them hard to manage and the novel a bit choppy.

The Bennetts are driving home when Jason realizes they are being followed. Suddenly the car behind them makes them pull over. Two men get out. It’s not just a carjacking, guns are drawn, shots fired and a teenage girl and the passenger in the other car are shot and killed. The FBI gets involved, witness protection.
There is an awful lot going on in this story, while is was a quick read at times it was inbelievable.