The Night She Disappeared Book Review

Author: April Henry. Release date: 2012. Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.. ISBN: 9780805092622.

Annotation: Gabie blames herself when her coworker, Kayla, disappears one night after trading shifts with her at a local pizza parlor. Sure that she is still alive, Gabie struggles as more and more time passes with no sign of Kayla.

Personal thoughts: I’d never heard of April Henry before picking up The Night She Disappeared, but having blown through it from cover-to-cover in a day I think I can safely say that I will definitely be reading more mysteries from her in the future!  I really enjoyed the novel, and found the pacing to be excellent. The combination of different narrators, evidence and all the other tidbits the author threw in really made it read like an episode of an intriguing true crime TV show. I would highly recommend this story to a reluctant reader because it is so interesting from start to finish. I’m looking forward to reading another one of April Henry’s creations!

Plot summary: High school senior Gabie Klug lives a fairly quiet life in Portland, Oregon. She studies hard, has a few friends at school and is looking forward to finding out who she is at Stanford next year. Like her surgeon parents, Gabie has everything in order, and never thought that her part-time job at Pete’s Pizza would throw her life into disarray. Gabie usually works Wednesday nights, driving her Mini-Cooper to deliver pizzas in the area. One day, however, Gabie’s beautiful, popular coworker Kayla asks to trade shifts with her. On that Wednesday evening, a man calls to order three pizzas and asks if the girl who drives the Mini-Cooper is working. Kayla goes out to deliver the pizzas and never returns. Now the hunt is on: the man who called in the pizza order gave a fake address, and all that has been recovered of Kayla is her car which was found by the bank of the Willamette River. Since the man asked if the girl who drives the Mini-Cooper was working, Gabie knows that she was the original target of the abduction; Kayla was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Wracked with guilt, Gabie struggles as more and more time passes with no sign of Kayla. Certain that she is still alive, Gabie and her coworker, Drew, wonder what they can do to help find Kayla before it’s too late.

Review: Mystery writer April Henry delivers a page-turning thriller with The Night She Disappeared.  Set in the author’s home of Portland, Oregon, the novel reads like an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, complete with evidence, police reports, and missing person’s flyers that accompany the narrative. The book is extremely fast-paced and difficult to put down, particularly since the chapters are from the viewpoints of several different characters. The main narrators, Gabie and her coworker Drew, are both likable and relatable. Gabie comes from a well-to-do family but feels stifled by her doctor parents, and Drew is the son of a junky who needs the money he earns from Pete’s Pizza to keep the lights on in the crummy apartment he shares with his mom. The two bond over Kayla’s disappearance, and both evolve as they become more and more embroiled in the hunt to find their missing coworker. There are some unsavory moments in the story, which is to be expected, as details of Kayla’s abduction come to light. The novel is still very much appropriate for a teen audience, however, and would be a particularly good choice for a reluctant reader who wants something that will grab and hold their attention quickly and from beginning to end.  

Genre:  Mystery

Reading level: Grade 7+

Similar titles: Girl, Stolen, The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die and other titles by April Henry, Lark by Tracey Porter, On the Fringe by Courtney King Walker, Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff, What Happened to Serenity? by PJ Sarah Collins.

Themes:  Mystery, kidnapping, abduction, danger, guilt, police, crime.

Awards/Reviews:  Positive review from VOYA, School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.

Series Information: N/A  

Discussion questions:

-         What mistakes do you think Kayla made that lead to her abduction? Is there something she could have done differently to keep herself safe?

-         If you were Gabie, would you feel guilty about Kayla getting abducted and not you? Why or why not?

-          What do you think brought Drew and Gabie together in the aftermath of Kayla’s abduction?

-         Why did Gabie want to experience what Kayla went through when she was abducted? Do you think it helped or made things worse?

-          What was the importance of the psychic in the events of the story? How would things have been different had she not been hired?

-          In the end, would you have done what Gabie and Drew did? Why or why not?

Falling Under Book Review

Author: Gwen Hayes. Release date: 2011. Publisher:  NAL Trade. ISBN: 9780451232682.

Annotation: Seveteen-year-old Theia Alderson is shocked when the handsome but mysterious boy from her dreams shows up at her high school one day. Theia isn’t sure what to make of Haden’s professions of love in their nightly meetings, and is even more confused when he seems to ignore her during the day. As she, and her best friends Donny and Amelia, learn more about Haden, however, Theia worries that something sinister is drawing them together.   

Personal thoughts:  I’ve had this book in my “pile” of to-reads for awhile, and I’m kicking myself for not picking it up sooner. I enjoyed the story from start to finish, even though it’s about a topic that is pretty popular in young adult literature these days. I really liked the author’s take on the half-demon, half-human concept and found the romance between Theia and Haden to be very intriguing. I can’t wait to pick up Dreaming Awake and to see what else Gwen Hayes comes up with in the future!

Plot summary: Theia Alderson is seventeen, but lives the life of a ten-year-old with her over-protective father in the small town of Serendipity Falls, California. After her mother died giving birth to her, Theia’s father insisted upon keeping her safe at all times, refusing to allow her to spend a lot of time with her best friends, Donny and Amelia, forcing her to dress modestly in clothes he’s selected for her, even decorating her room for her. Theia feels like she’s trapped, making her shy and reserved, and she wants nothing more than to go unnoticed by anyone but her two friends at their high school.  Everything changes, however, when she begins to dream of a dark but handsome boy who appears to be her age, but is always dressed in old-fashioned finery. Their nightly meetings take place in a beautiful but slightly sinister garden, full of music and grotesque revelers.  Theia doesn’t know what to make of her incredibly realistic dreams, especially when she wakes up to discover black roses placed on her bed. Matters are complicated when a new student arrives at Serendipity Falls High School. The mysterious stranger that has the entire school intrigued turns out to be Haden, the handsome boy from Theia’s dreams. Although he won’t acknowledge that they have been meeting nightly, dancing in his enchanted garden, Haden seems fixated on Theia, her skin tingling anytime he gazes in her direction. Unsure of who, or what, Haden is, Theia worries that his arrival in her waking life means much more than the possibility of her having her first boyfriend.

Review:  The half-demon, half-human concept is something that seems to be appearing more and more in young adult literature recently, some novels doing a better job of creating an original take on it than others. Fortunately, Falling Under, the first installment in Gwen Hayes’ Falling Under series, takes a common plotline and turns it into something fresh, romantic and more than a little macabre, but, above all, utterly enjoyable. Theia Alderson, the leading lady, is like many teens in young adult novels: sheltered, shy, and longing to break free of what she refers to as her “gilded cage.” Her beau, the darkly handsome Haden, however, is another story. His first appearance in the novel is very unusual: his burning, tortured form falls quietly passed Theia’s window one night, drawing her outside to wonder at how such a person came to be on her back lawn. For the remainder, Haden “steals the show” with his dapper apparel, enchanted yet horrifying garden, and mysterious powers of unknown origin. Theia is powerless against his charms, as is the reader who longs to learn more about just who Haden is. This curiosity will cause most readers to plow through the story until the final pages, and yearn for the sequel, Dreaming Awake, which was, thankfully, released on January 3, 2012. Overall, Falling Under is an engrossing start to a series that most fans of supernatural romance will thoroughly enjoy.

Genre: Fiction/Romance

Reading level: Grade 8+

Similar titles: The Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent, Misfit by Jon Skovron, Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey, The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff, Wake Unto Me by Lisa Cach.    

Themes:  Demons, Hell, father-daughter relationships, death, loss, guilt.   

Awards/Reviews:  Positive reviews from authors Sarah Beth Durst and Rosemary Clement-Moor.  

Series Information: First installment in Falling Under series. Second novel, Dreaming Awake, released on January 3, 2012.  

Discussion questions:

- Why do you think Haden was burning when he first fell past Theia’s window?

- Why do you think Haden was so reluctant to touch Theia? Do you think it was the right thing to do?

- Which of Theia’s friends did you like more: Donny or Amelia? Why?

-  Why do you think Theia’s father was so protective? How would their relationship be different if her mother was still alive?

- What would you like to see happen between Theia and Haden in Dreaming Awake?