Ellery Hathaway was the 17th and last person abducted by notorious serial killer Francis Michael Coben. She was literally the “final girl,” the only survivor of his killing spree. Rather than living the rest of her life looking over her shoulder and consumed by PTSD from this traumatic experience, Ellery decides to become a cop.

At the start of EVERY WAKING HOUR, the fourth installment in Joanna Schaffhausen’s series, we find Ellery, a rookie detective with the Boston P.D., beginning a relationship with Reed Markham, the FBI agent who rescued her from certain death. Reed is presently separated from his wife Sarit, with whom he had coauthored a nonfiction bestseller about Ellery’s abduction.

Ellery, Reed and Reed’s seven-year-old daughter, Tula, are attending a Boston street fair when they hear the screams of a woman who is yelling about a lost child. Mimi is the nanny of 12-year-old Chloe Lockhart, who simply disappeared into the crowd when Mimi momentarily took her eyes off her. When Mimi calls Chloe’s cell phone, they find it ringing on top of a nearby garbage can.

"EVERY WAKING HOUR will keep readers on their toes. Each page will be turned with your heart in your throat as if you are the parents of the young girl and fear the reality of the horrific ending that you try to put out of your mind."

Ellery and Reed bring Mimi to the precinct, and soon they are joined by Chloe’s parents: Martin, a wealthy businessman, and Teresa, a surgeon. Martin shows up with his own personal attorney, and Teresa reacts to the news by saying, “Not again. This can’t be happening again.”

We immediately learn that Teresa’s first marriage to Professor Ethan Stone ended following the tragic loss of their young son, Trevor, which devastated her. One of the book’s best passages depicts the horror that every parent fears and, as the father of a seven-year-old, really hit home with me: "What an audacious act it is to bring a child into this world, [Reed] thought. Babies were born every minute into uncertain futures. Guns and locks and fences failed; monsters could wear a human face. You had to believe somehow that your child would be different, blessed and safe." It is obvious to me that Schaffhausen draws upon her doctorate in psychology for such intuitive thoughts.

The Lockharts are contacted with a callous message that reads: U WANT TO SEE CHLOE AGAIN? GO ON TV & TELL THE WORLD WUT A SH*TTY MOM YOU ARE. DO IT 2DAY OR U WON’T BE A MOM ANYMORE. Ellery and her rookie partner, Dorie, along with Reed, are racing against the clock as they know all too well that the more time that goes by, the less likely it is that there will be a positive outcome. Teresa makes her “confession” and plea for Chloe on television, but the abductor is not satisfied and sends a package containing most of Chloe’s hair. One of her fingers is promised as punishment the next time.

Amid all of this, Ellery’s teenaged sister, Ashley, pops up after apparently running away from home. Ellery does not have much of a relationship with her but cannot turn her away. At this point, the case continues while both Tula and now Ashley are in tow with Ellery and/or Reed. The novel ambles along like a runaway train with various characters and potential suspects introduced and then moved away. Everyone from an unknown boyfriend at Chloe’s school to perverted colleagues of Martin are being interviewed without any proof of involvement in the abduction.

EVERY WAKING HOUR will keep readers on their toes. Each page will be turned with your heart in your throat as if you are the parents of the young girl and fear the reality of the horrific ending that you try to put out of your mind. Ellery Hathaway is a strong character, which is quite an accolade considering what she has gone through in her life. That is what makes this series so engaging, and the fact that Schaffhausen ends the proceedings with a whopper of a cliffhanger means that the next installment cannot come fast enough.