In the tradition of YA suspense master Gail Giles, Corrigan creates a tense, bare-bones thriller that both provides a nerve-wracking ride and reveals its central characters' greed, selfishness and capacity for evil. When the story opens, city-born golden girl Chloe Caffrey has disappeared, putting the New Jersey farm town of Colt River and, soon, national TV audiences into a panic. Only narrator Finn, Chloe's best friend, knows the truth: Chloe's disappearance is a hoax. In 11 days, Finn will "discover" Chloe in the woods, and the two girls hope the fame they achieve will secure them places at the nation's most selective colleges. Though college admission seems less than compelling as a motive for such a destructive scheme, the tension is real and unrelenting. Chloe's calculating indifference is a perfect, chillling foil to Finn's mounting distress as both girls' families react, guidance counselors and fellow students pry and a shy boy from school is taken into police custody as a suspect. A dark page-turner with a satisfying resolution. (Suspense. 12 & up)
