Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee

August 15, 2016
This gripping thriller from Thompson (Evil Fairies Love Hair) explores the aftermath of a shocking crime through the eyes of one of its survivors. Amy MacArthur was only 10 when she and her 12-year-old cousin, Dee, were kidnapped by a man named Kyle while playing by the river in their Oregon town. Now Amy is 16, and she has come home without Dee. It’s not the home she left: her parents are divorced, her younger brother can hardly look her in the eye, and her Aunt Hannah is frantic for news about Dee. Dee’s sister, Lee, takes Amy under her wing, and as Amy rediscovers how to live again, she gradually shares the story of the girls’ captivity. As the reason for Amy’s silence becomes horrifyingly clear, it proves increasingly difficult for her to hide the truth of Dee’s fate. Amy and Dee’s story is unthinkable, and their bond and struggle to survive is heart-wrenching. Thompson expertly builds the novel’s tension to an unbearable pitch as she guides readers to a bittersweet, satisfying conclusion. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kate McKean, Howard Morhaim Literary.

A kidnapped girl returns home after six years.Now 16, Amy MacArthur must readjust to life with her family while also coping with the space left by her cousin and best friend, Dee, who was also kidnapped. Although the white girl physically returns alone, Amy is accompanied by secrets she can't reveal to anyone. She can't divulge Dee's whereabouts, the kidnapper's identity, or where she's been for the past six years; to do so will bring harm to two people who have become very precious to her: Dee's children. Details of the girls' abduction and isolation unfold slowly as introspective Amy gradually reveals the heartbreaking details of her escape and Dee's fate. Amy's narration moves back and forth in time, recounting her experiences both after her return and during her captivity. Although Amy is a sympathetic character, the tight focus of the text makes it hard to see how Dee changes from a fun-loving, talkative girl of 12 to an angry, empty shell of an 18-year-old. Lee, Dee's sister, is unbelievably bubbly for a girl whose sister is still missing; she wants to take Amy shopping and partying. The villain of the piece, Kyle, the creepy, doll-worshipping rapist kidnapper, is downright scary--with a huge body, small head, and deceptively clownish smile, he is an overgrown toddler prone to tantrums and all the more terrifying for it. An intelligent, tense psychological drama. (Fiction. 13-18) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-When Amy is 10 and her cousin Dee is 12, they are kidnapped by a man named Kyle. Now at 16, Amy shows up at home, without Dee, revealing limited information about what has happened over the past six years. While Amy is acclimating to "normal" life, her cousin and Dee's sister, Lee, befriends her and helps her adjust. All the while, Amy has blackouts that draw her into flashbacks of her time with Kyle. As the narrative unfolds, more is revealed about Amy and Dee's story in a style that blends past and present. Kyle is obsessed with dolls and renames Amy and Dee "Chelsea" and "Stacie," respectively. Amy was never supposed to be kidnapped. Dee is raped repeatedly and bears two daughters, Lola and Barbie. As time goes on, Dee shrinks inside of herself and, without a competent parent or adult around, Amy has to step up to be mother and father to the girls. Amy struggles to come to terms with the life that she left behind. This is not a tale about Stockholm syndrome but rather a work about a girl who was kidnapped and has to unlearn the things she was led to believe by her kidnapper. Thompson tells a story that is raw without being overly graphic. VERDICT Fans of realistic fiction and similar titles, such as Emma Donoghue's Room, Lucy Christopher's Stolen, and April Henry's Girl, Stolen, will devour this novel.-Adrienne L. Strock, Nashville Public Library

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2016
Grades 10-1 Six years after two preteen girls are abducted, only one returns in this traumatic, psychologically taut novel. Sixteen-year-old Amy arrives shell-shocked at her home without an explanation as to where she was, how she escaped, and what happened to her cousin Dee, who disappeared the same day. Amy struggles to readjust to a normal life, where her name is no longer Chelsea, and where her parents are no longer together. Though she knows what happened to Dee, who she still thinks of as Stacie, and her aunt demands answers, Amy can't tell without risking two other lives. Amy narrates in a tight first person, moving between past and present, giving her story immediacy and intimacy. The details of the girls' harrowing experiences with their kidnapper, Kyle, a childlike adult prone to frequent rages, are revealed slowly, with explicitness but without sensationalism, building to an unrelentingly tense (though occasionally implausible) climactic confrontation. Thompson deals honestly with the guilt and grief of Amy and her family, and, though grim, this tearjerker has a welcome, hopeful resolution.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)