Review by Booklist Review
The night Kayla disappeared while delivering a pizza, Gabie was supposed to be on delivery duty and Drew took the order. As the days go by and hope for Kayla's safe return fades, Drew and Gabie draw closer together as they grapple with what they know must have been a horrible crime. The police have a suspect and a theory, and they don't want to hear Gabie's suspicion that Kayla is still alive. But the reader, informed by evidence interspersed with multiple perspectives including Kayla's and her kidnapper's knows that Kayla is alive, that Gabie was the true target, and that the kidnapper isn't finished with either of them. This suspense story pulls all the right strings while nicely fleshing out what could have been stock characters. Gabie, the daughter of surgeons, and Drew, the son of a meth addict, find an unlikely connection not just in their preoccupation with the crime but also in their solitude and desire for understanding and companionship. Meanwhile, seemingly simple golden girl Kayla emerges as a fighter. A taut, emotionally vested thriller.--Booth, Heather Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When 17-year-old Kayla Cutler, an employee at Pete's Pizza, disappears while delivering an order, her fellow employees are shocked and disturbed. Unfolding over the two weeks after Kayla vanishes, Henry's (Girl, Stolen) heart-pounding mystery alternates among the perspectives of numerous characters, including Kayla's co-workers Gabie, who is traumatized by Kayla's kidnapping (and believes that she was the intended target), and Drew, a "straight-C stoner" who is supporting his drug-addicted mother, as well as a diver searching the Willamette River, a psychic, Kayla herself-and the man who kidnapped her. As Kayla plots an escape from the room in which she's being held, Gabie and Drew try to investigate what happened to her, holding out hope that she's still alive. It's a riveting story that many readers will finish in one sitting, full of suspects and augmented by police reports, interviews, and newspaper articles that, along with the variety of voices, make the events feel all the more real. Each chapter is a surprise, and the tension builds steadily until the inevitable climactic face-off. Ages 12-up. Agent: Wendy Schmalz, Wendy Schmalz Agency. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-In the tradition of Caroline Cooney and Joan Lowry Nixon, April Henry's latest mystery thriller (Holt, 2012) is best listened to with the lights on. Gabie and Kayla, two high school seniors, are working at Pete's Pizza after school and making plans for college. One day, Kayla switches shifts with Gabie, answers a delivery call, and disappears into thin air. The only clue is a phone call from the kidnapper, John Robertson, asking for the girl in the Mini Cooper (Gabie drives one). What happens next is a detailed exploration of the aftermath of Kayla's disappearance and the search to find her, conducted both by the police who think Kayla is dead, and Gabie, who is convinced she's alive. The story is told through the first-person perspectives of Kayla's coworkers Gabie and Drew, the kidnapper, and Kayla herself. Henry's fast-paced narrative explores the far-reaching effects of an all-too-real situation and the emotional and psychological consequences it can have on a community. Supplementing the story are investigative artifacts and evidence, reminiscent of a TV police procedural. Kate Rudd's raw narration taps into the fear and uncertainty faced by the characters and enhances the tension building in each chapter. This page-turner will leave listeners on the edge of their seats until the very last sentence.-Michaela Schied, Indian River Middle School, Philadelphia, NY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
When a fellow pizza delivery girl disappears after a delivery, Gabie--who fears she may have been the intended target--is compelled to find her co-worker despite numerous obstacles. Using multiple narrators, phone transcripts, and lab reports, among other narrative elements, this quickly shifting novel generates nonstop tension, although its pacing nearly gets away from it near the end. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
(Mystery. 12 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
