Pretty Is

May 11, 2015
Mitchell's debut novel is both a skewering of America's JonBenet Ramseyâstyle fixation with little girls in peril and a fascinating glimpse at the intensity of female friendship. In the mid 1990s Carly May Smith and Lois Lonsdale, both 12, were kidnapped and held in a remote enclave of the Adirondacks for two long, claustrophobic months. Precocious Carly was a preteen pageant circuit darling, desperate to escape the dreariness of Nebraska farm life. Quiet and intelligent Lois grew up in her parents' Connecticut B&B and devoted herself to spelling bees. All they had in common were public profiles: their abductor had used newspaper clippings about them to devise his kidnapping. Told in flashbacks from alternating points of view, the work is most interesting when Mitchell explores the girls' desires and neuroses. Under coincidental circumstances (Lois writes a novel about the experience, and Carly acts in the film adaptation), the women are reunited as adults and must revisit the truth about what really happened in that cabin in the woods. Psychologically rich, with haunting detail, Mitchell's work is a disturbing, insightful look at our deep fears.

In Mitchell's debut, two lonely 12-year-old girls develop strong feelings for the man who abducted them. Their captor, whom they call Zeb, keeps the girls hidden in a lodge in the Adirondacks for two months but doesn't physically harm them. He's eventually killed by the police and the girls are returned home. Years later, when they're both nearly 30, Lois and Carly May seem to have recovered from their abductions and lead fulfilling adult lives. Carly May's changed her name to Chloe Savage and has a moderately successful career as an actress, while Lois, a literature professor in upstate New York, also has an alternate identity. Using the pseudonym Lucy Ledger, she's written a thriller about two kidnapped girls. The book is successful enough to be turned into a movie, and the role of the detective who develops an unhealthy obsession with the intriguing kidnapper goes to none other than Chloe Savage. Chloe, of course, recognizes the plot as her story and begins to revisit her memories of Zeb and their days in the lodge, where the two girls bonded and competed subtly for Zeb's affections. While the story sounds convoluted, it's an interesting and unexpected exploration of the aftermath of an abduction that left invisible scars. At one point, Lois refers to a literary argument that "fiction should adhere to a standard of probability, rather than possibility." Everything about this novel defies probability. By the time Lois and Chloe meet again to talk about their past, many unbelievable things have happened, but this is a novel about stories, truth, and reinvention more than it is a logical thriller about a kidnapping. The voices of the two women are distinctive, each sharp and witty in her own way. A satisfying, unusual novel. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2015

When they were 12 years old, Lois and Carly May were abducted from the streets of their respective towns and taken to a cabin in the Adirondacks, where they were held captive for six weeks by a man they knew only as Zed. Now in their early 30s, they have not had any contact since that summer. Lois is an English professor who has written a pseudonymous thriller based on the abduction, and Carly May has become a B-list actress named Chloe Savage, who has just received the script of a new movie based on Lois's novel. Meanwhile, one of Lois's students somehow knows about her past and is showing an unhealthy interest in her. Chloe and Lois agree to meet on the British Columbia set of the movie, where past and present collide in unexpected ways. Alternating between Chloe and Lois's narrations, and between the present-day and their respective memories of that summer, Mitchell's debut novel explores rich the psychological territory of how the protagonists perceived the events of that summer, how it affected their relationships with their families and with each other, and how it marked the course of their lives. VERDICT This is an engaging thriller that will intrigue teens who were fascinated by Jaycee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart, and other tales of abduction.-Sarah Flowers, formerly of Santa Clara County (CA) Library

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2015

When they were both 12, Lois and Carly May were abducted and held captive in an abandoned cabin in the Adirondack woods for two months by a handsome stranger they named Zed. It's now 20 years after that event, and Lois, a professor at a small college, and Carly May, an actress known as Chloe Savage, are still sorting out their lives. They're also about to meet again; Lois's screenplay based on their experience will star Chloe/Carly as a detective. Mitchell's debut combines psychological suspense and literary fiction with well-drawn, believable protagonists who alternate as narrators. The story is strongest when we go inside the young women's minds as they grapple with their shared past; it's less credible when they confront the present. The author mostly avoids cliches (despite one heroine heading for academe and the other for Hollywood), but supporting characters are not fleshed out, and the conclusion is a bit too neat and abrupt. The inclusion of Lois's novelization of the girls' trauma and the lack of backstory or point of view for Zed are compelling choices that at times confound readers but show some daring. VERDICT Despite drawbacks here, Mitchell is on her way to a place at the femmes fatales fiction dais with Megan Abbott, Gillian Flynn, Tana French, and Sharon Bolton. [See Prepub Alert, 1/12/15.]--Liz French, Library Journal

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2015

What links Lois Lonsdale, who teaches British literature at a small college in Upstate New York, and lonesome, possibly washed-up actress Chloe Savage? At age 12, they were abducted independently and held at an Adirondack hunting lodge for two months, bonding to survive. They're drawn together again by a movie script bearing an uncanny resemblance to their story. Lots of buzz, plus multiple foreign sales.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2016
Almost two decades before the start of this novel, two very different little girls were kidnapped from Nebraska and Connecticut and held at a cabin in the Adirondacks for six weeks before being rescued unharmed. But recovering from such trauma is anything but easy and neither girl reconnects totally. As adults, Lois and Carly May alternate their stories and feelings as circumstances and unexpected danger bring them together again. Some motives remain unclear, but ambiguity is used effectively as Mitchell skillfully moves between the two characters, interweaving their pasts and present. Tavia Gilbert and Nichole Zanzarella deliver fine performances, creating an effective counterpoint between the characters. VERDICT Recommended for those who enjoyed Emma Donoghue's "Room" or Chevy Stevens's "Still Missing". ["Despite drawbacks here, Mitchell is on her way to a place at the femmes fatales fiction dais": "LJ" 6/1/15 review of the Holt hc.]--Janet Martin, Southern Pines P.L., NC

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.