THE EVIDENCE THAT WASN'T THERE

by C. S. Adler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 1982

A competent if routine suspense story--no mystery--in which the villain is identified on page one (well, page two) and the suspense derives from his increasingly menacing pursuit of heroine Kim--complicated by her trouble convincing the adults involved that he is a villain. What happens on page two is that Kim, on her way to visit her teacher and friend Ms. Davis and Ms. Davis' old mother Emma, collides with a man who is leaving their house. His papers scatter; he's rude and accusing when she tries to help him retrieve them; and thereafter he pressures her with threatening words and posture to ""return"" a letter she's never had. Aided by bright school friend Morey, her ally from the start, Kim discovers that the man, Orlop, is a genealogist who claims that Emma stands to share in a huge inheritance if she will give him money to fight her case. Desperate for the letter, which could be used to convict him of fraud, Orlop hangs around Kim's school, burglarizes her apartment, and finally, in the dark of midnight, drags her off from her building hallway. She is saved by Morey, who has in fact found the letter outside the Davis home. There's a subplot in which Kim is disillusioned by class heartthrob Eric and finds ""chemistry"" with short, unhandsome Morey; this is commonplace stuff, but it adds a spot of human interest to Kim's bout with terror.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 1982

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Clarion/Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1982

Categories: FICTION