Less thriller than psychological puzzler, this novel effectively keep readers guessing.
Held hostage by a terrorist group somewhere in Europe, Chloe finds herself increasingly attracted to her captor as her mother and friends back home do everything they can to free her.
Chloe was working in Greece over the summer and is known for how carefully she manages her life. When she is kidnapped on the side of a road, she is really out of control and frightened. Blindfolded and drugged, Chloe gradually realizes that she is being held as a trade for the release of prisoners whom her captor believes to have been unjustly prosecuted. Her main relationship is with one man who is gentle and kind and eventually becomes her lover. Chapters written by Chloe after the fact detail events and alternate with notes, letters, e-mail messages, news reports, Facebook posts and webpages. It is in these interpolations that readers see how Chloe's advocates manipulate facts themselves in order to effect her rescue. At the end, psychologists put her words in the context of how others have responded, challenging her veracity. This eminently discussable novel continually asks readers to consider whether ends justify means and how power and control affect relationships. They take the journey with Chloe through paralyzing fear toward what seems like love. Is it?
Less thriller than psychological puzzler, this novel effectively keep readers guessing. (Suspense. 12 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55451-283-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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