Fear the Worst » (Abridged, 5 CDs, 5 hrs. 48 min.)

Linwood Barclay is a former columnist for the Toronto Star. He is the author of several critically acclaimed novels, including No Time for Goodbye, Stone Rain and Lone Wolf. He lives near Toronto with his wife and has two grown children.

Tim is an average guy. He sells cars. He has an ex-wife who’s moved in with a man whose moody son spends more time online than he should. Tim’s girlfriend is turning out to be a bit of a flake. It’s not a life without hassles, but nothing will prepare him for the nightmare that’s about to begin.
His daughter, Sydney, has vanished into thin air. At the hotel where she supposedly worked, no one has ever heard of her. Even her closest friends seem to be at a loss. Now, as the days pass without word, Tim must face the fact that not only is Sydney missing, but that he may not have known his daughter as well as he thought.
As he retraces Sydney’s steps, Tim discovers that the suburban Connecticut town he always thought of as idyllic is anything but. What he doesn’t know is that his every move is being watched. There are others who want to find Sydney as much as Tim does.
But they’re not planning a welcome-home party.
The closer Tim comes to the truth, the closer he comes to every parent’s worst nightmare and the kind of evil only a parent’s love has a chance in hell of stopping.

The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio

Although the book's villains are way too crude, Barclay is more subtle in analyzing teenage attitudes and behavior, and comes up with revelations that would make any parent's hair stand on end.