Fans who have wondered whether Reeve and Janie’s love endures and whether the kidnapper is caught will want this final piece...
Over two decades after the Janie series began with The Face on the Milk Carton (1990), Cooney concludes the thriller-romance saga of kidnapped Janie Johnson.
Janie, having balanced living with both her “real” family and her kidnap family, looks forward to the anonymity of college, only to discover that a true-crime writer wants to revive the ordeal in a book. Although her heart is still with Reeve, the boy next door who betrayed her, she begins to date Michael—who is actually stalking her as a researcher for the crime writer. Dumping Michael, she falls back into Reeve’s waiting arms. In a romantic proposal scene at the airport, they decide to marry immediately. With much rehashing of back story and Janie’s endless wrestling over which boy she loves, the pace drags until the heart-pounding final pages. Janie, for all she has been through, is shallow and saccharine—a throwback to decades ago. Janie’s wedding plans and multiple professions of faith in God give the book an explicit Catholic tone. Kidnapper Hannah Javensen’s character, expressed in the interspersed chapters that explore her mental instability, has more psychological depth.
Fans who have wondered whether Reeve and Janie’s love endures and whether the kidnapper is caught will want this final piece of the puzzle. (Fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-385-74206-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
A twisty and entertaining magic-filled mystery that mirrors real-life issues.
A teen’s sense of justice leads her into dark and unexpected places.
Mary Elizabeth lives in the Scar with her Aunt Gia, living life to the fullest with her boyfriend, James; his Neverland boys; and her best friend, Ursula. While Mary balances attending school at Monarch High; partying at Wonderland, a local club for minors; and her internship with the police department that solved her parents’ murders, tensions rise between Legacy, the Scar’s original inhabitants who have a magical lineage, and Narrows, privileged incomers without magic. When the mysterious Mad Hatter strikes, leaving grisly presents for the police, and a wealthy Legacy student disappears, the police chief puts Mary and a young officer on the case in search of answers and justice. The Scar is a complex and realistic setting where Legacy struggle with collective trauma, social unrest, and inequity while rich Narrows families are buying up and building on Legacy land that holds spiritual significance and reshaping the high school to be less inclusive. Themes discussed include politics after the Death of Magic and the co-opting of Legacy culture by Narrows as well as the importance of chosen family. The appearance of familiar characters will draw readers into this story that delves into society’s darkness. Mary is pale-skinned with red hair; ethnic diversity in the cast does not correspond with Legacy versus Narrows status.
A twisty and entertaining magic-filled mystery that mirrors real-life issues. (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-368-04938-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Chilling and suspenseful, with just the right number of twists.
If your friend’s dead body falls in the woods and nobody is around to see which of you pulled the trigger, what will your story be?
In an after-party haze of booze and drugs, five white, wealthy best friends go hunting in the River Point woods—only four return. With one of the boys, Grant, shot dead in an apparent accident and no one willing to admit responsibility, Logan, Henry, John Michael, and Shep vow to keep silent in order to protect their remaining group and the killer among them. But secrets have a way of burrowing through bonds, and the tightknit foursome, dubbed the River Point Boys, has already started to unravel. Meanwhile, budding photojournalist and white senior Kate Marino is interning at the district attorney’s office, where her boss is assigned the River Point case. The DA wants the case to disappear quietly, but Kate is determined see justice done. As she assists with examining the boys’ behavior during interrogations and in person, she discovers that nothing about the case, the suspects, or even her own connection to the boys is what it seems. The narration alternates between Kate’s fervent suspicions and a River Point Boy’s cold manipulation, leaving readers to wade through the many vengeful motives that spill from a wellspring of affluence, privilege, and corruption.
Chilling and suspenseful, with just the right number of twists. (Mystery. 13-17)Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-3089-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
