I remember the term "suspension of disbelief" from my Understanding Theater class at college. Now I get it. This was a really lovely story, just ignore that the premise is so utterly silly. Kidnap an entire dinner party for no reason, have all the hostages hope they don't get rescued, well, I better say no more or I'll spoil it. I'm not sure how this even got on my to read list, but it was a definite page turner. I was up till the stupid hours of the night unwilling to go to bed until I knew how it finally turned out. I'll now be looking forward to reading more of Ann Patchett's work.