Abducted by Circumstance

“Abducted by Circumstance is a thrilling crime story, a dark and complex psychological study, a rich contemplation on contemporary life. It is also a masterful moral drama about the centuries-old conflicts that arise from the juxtaposition of the flesh and spirit.”
—Allen Wier, author of Tehano
“David Madden continues to push the envelope of literary fiction in subtle and profoundly sophisticated ways. Abducted by Circumstance is a quirky, utterly compelling novel in pieces that in its very structure speaks to the work’s twenty-first-century theme: how do we find connection in a fragmented world. In this new book Madden is at the height of his considerable power.”
—Robert Olen Butler, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
 
In Abducted by Circumstance, David Madden offers his readers a simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating experience. From an observation deck overlooking Lake Ontario, Carol Seaborg admires a self-confident, attractive older woman, not realizing that she will be the last person to see the woman before she disappears. Carol learns the woman’s name is Glenda Hamilton and fears that she has been abducted by a serial rapist and killer. Carol begins to grapple with her emotions as she visualizes Glenda’s troubling fate. As she strongly empathizes with Glenda, Carol projects her own emotions, imagination, and intellect onto Glenda’s experience. Although it is grounded in the realistic detail of everyday life, Abducted by Circumstance is unique in its conception, style, and characterization. Madden immerses the reader in an extraordinarily rich and unforgettable psychological experience. Thoroughly absorbing from start to finish, Abducted by Circumstance explores Carol’s troubled psyche with the rare precision and insight that have long distinguished David Madden’s fiction.
 
Each of David Madden’s highly praised novels and two collections of short stories has had some quality of uniqueness, among them Cassandra Singing, Sharpshooter: A Novel of the Civil War, Bijou, and The Suicide’s Wife. Twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, David Madden received the Robert Penn Warren Award.