Nearly Gone

January 13, 2014
In an impressive debut, Cosimano delivers a tense thriller that sees a teenage math whiz pitted against a serial killer who’s knocking off her classmates in increasingly fiendish ways. When 16-year-old Nearly “Leigh” Boswell discovers that a killer is leaving her coded messages in the newspaper personals, she becomes the only one capable of solving the murders. But all of the evidence points to her as the chief suspect—someone’s making it extremely personal. With her only ally being the teenage narc (and resident bad boy) assigned to investigate her for the police, Leigh must somehow solve the case before she loses her friends, her freedom, or her life. Cosimano weaves together math riddles, science-based clues, an edgy romance, and psychological terror to create an unpredictable page-turner. Nearly’s psychometric ability to glean emotions through touch is somewhat underexploited, and some of the clues are so blatant it’s a wonder she overlooks them. Nevertheless, this is a good choice for fans of “savant” procedurals and dramas like Bones, Elementary, or Numbers. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency.

January 15, 2014
In a suspenseful high school whodunit, AP chemistry student Nearly "Leigh" Boswell investigates a series of murders for which someone is trying to frame her. Every week, Leigh (which she really prefers to her given name, Nearly) combs the missed-connections ads in her local paper, hoping for word from the father who disappeared years ago. On the day her chemistry teacher lectures the class about Schrodinger's cat, Leigh spots an eerie outlier among the messages: "Newton was wrong....Find me tonight under the bleachers." After a math tutee's brutal attack, a scrawled warning in Leigh's desk, and a dead cat delivered to Leigh's doorstep, complete with Schrodinger reference, a second science-themed personal ad convinces Leigh that something nefarious is afoot. With regard to believability, the science-class conceits are as tricky to swallow as the idea that a teenager in 2014 browses print personals. But the point here isn't realism--it's puzzles. Cryptic missed-connections clues, a sequence of numbers left on the victims' bodies, and of course, the identity and motive of the murderer leave plenty for readers to contemplate as Leigh rushes to crime scenes and runs from the police. The story's single supernatural element--when Leigh touches people, she experiences their emotions--is woven deftly into the story, and the romance plot is compelling. Tense and engaging--well worth the effort of suspending one's disbelief. (Mystery. 12-18)

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Starred review from February 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-In this suspenseful and thrilling murder mystery, high school junior Nearly Boswell is struggling to get by in a Washington, DC trailer park with her single mother, who works the night shift at a local strip club. Any chance she has of escaping her miserable life is dependent on a highly competitive scholarship for which she and her best friend are vying against each other. Everything is going according to plan until Nearly spots an eerie personal ad in the local newspaper-an ad that ends up being a clue in the attempted murder of one of her classmates. She soon finds another clue in the following week's paper leading to another murder. And then another. The police won't take her seriously, and when the hints start pointing in her direction, Nearly becomes their number one suspect. The only person she can trust is bad boy Reece, whom she suspects is working with the police to keep a close eye on her. The clock is ticking, and Nearly must hurry to solve the homicides, and prove her own innocence, before it is too late. There is a hint of the paranormal in this murder mystery, as Nearly has an unusual gift that allows her to "taste" the emotions of others when she touches their skin. Eloquently written and packed full of suspense, debut author Cosimano strikes gold with this page-turning thriller that will have teens chomping at the bit to get to the end. Give this to fans of Kimberly Derting's The Body Finder (HarperCollins, 2010) or anyone else who is looking for a captivating murder mystery.-Candyce Pruitt-Goddard, Hartford Public Library, CT

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2014
Grades 9-12 Nearly Boswell has turned social invisibility into an art. A stripper mom, a vanished dad, a high IQ, and living in a trailer park: all of these things spell walking target until she can score a scholarship and get out of town. Her only indulgence is reading the personal ads on Fridays, hoping for a message from her long-gone father, and that's where she finds cryptic messages that, once she starts using her ample smarts to decipher them, turn out to be clues regarding vicious attacks on students at West River High. Cosimano's debut starts slow, freighted with silent conversations and minute observations of every gesture and capillary response. Nearly has the ability to taste the feelings of others through touch, recalling novels such as Lisa McMann's Wake (2008) and Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys (2012), but her ability is strangely underutilized, and this, together with other inexplicables, gives the plot a somewhat forced feel. Once Cosimano begins building momentum, however, and the bodies start piling up, it's a race to the finish.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)