And Then She Was Gone

December 15, 2013
Lauren O'Neil was 11 when she vanished. Now, six years later, her parents, Rachel and Dan, receive a call informing them that she's been found alive. Her kidnapper, Kevin, kept her on a decrepit farm mere miles from her home and used emotional, physical, and sexual abuse to control her and thwart escape. Noonan explores the family's reunion from Lauren and Rachel's viewpoints as Lauren slowly integrates back into noncaptive life, first in a safe house, then back home. Though Rachel's voice rings truer, both women are highly sympathetic and compelling. Noonan (All She Ever Wanted, 2012; The Daughter She Used to Be, 2011) writes another gripping family story that handles sensitive issues with grace by focusing on the aftermath rather than lurid details of the kidnapping. The timely plot, which calls to mind Jaycee Dugard and the young women who escaped captivity in Cleveland, will hold readers in its sway.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)