The Revenge

May 1, 2017
When a local teen celebrity goes missing, her ex-boyfriend becomes the prime suspect.White teens Tony Gardner and Hope Jensen have just broken up, and everyone at school is on Hope's side. Hope is the rich, beautiful daughter of the local morning show anchors, while Tony is just a poor nobody. Licking his wounds, Tony spends the night signing Hope up for every dating app and free-sample delivery he can find, plastering her picture and address all over the internet. The next day Hope calls, begging him to take it all down, and during the call Tony hears Hope abducted. While the town searches for Hope, Tony does his best to avoid suspicion, to no avail. Fairly early on, Hope is revealed to have Gone Girl-ed Tony, faking her kidnapping to get even. But things go terribly awry. The novel's hook raises interest, but the characters quickly scuttle it. Hope is a shallow, vindictive person with little going for her, and self-centered Tony continually makes staggeringly bad decisions. The author effectively crafts a town coming together to search for a missing person and the paranoid atmosphere that emerges, but the center doesn't hold. These two teens are just too inert to engage readers. A last-minute turn lands with a thud. A decent hook ruined by shoddy characters and limp plotting. (Thriller. 12-16)

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June 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-A riveting account of a staged kidnapping gone horribly wrong and the potential dangers of the relentless pursuit of fame. Tony is an average high school nobody, and that's exactly what pretty, popular local celebrity Hope likes about him. After Tony unexpectedly ends the relationship, however, Hope decides to exact her revenge by staging her own kidnapping and pinning the blame on him. Tucked away in a cabin in the woods, Hope is soon fighting for her life after her plan goes awry. Meanwhile, Tony battles against the press, the police, Hope's parents, and his own suspicions in an attempt to learn the truth and find Hope. Jayne crafts two perfectly imperfect protagonists and one of the most chilling psychological villains of the year. Chapters alternate between Tony and Hope, with the first few focusing on Tony's flawed and frustrating struggle to determine Hope's whereabouts. Hope's resourcefulness and drive to survive are extraordinarily compelling, even in the face of her selfishness, and her adrenaline-infused sections fly by. The ending feels somewhat rushed and offers no real resolution but is realistic. VERDICT A must-read for anyone who loves thrilling crime novels. Purchase where teens are looking for Gone Girl-like YA.-Emily Grace Le May, Mt. Pleasant Library Providence Community Library

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