Method 15/33

Starred review from March 9, 2015
In Kirk’s harrowing first novel, a kidnap victim—16 years old and pregnant—meticulously plots her escape. Although locked in a sparsely furnished third-floor room of what she believes to be a white farmhouse, the nameless narrator is confident that she can turn the tables on her male captor (“I had the wits to beat this horrible, disgusting thing”). Her visitors include a doctor and a couple she calls Mr. and Mrs. Obvious, who intend to take her baby. Fueled by a desire for revenge, she carefully catalogues every possible asset that she might use: a loose floorboard is #4, a pencil sharpener is #15, and so on. Meanwhile, FBI special agent Roger Liu investigates the abduction case of Dorothy M. Salucci, another in a series of missing pregnant teens, and he tracks a slim lead to rural Indiana. Back at the farmhouse, the narrator sets out to rescue herself, and with great cunning and patience she carries out the plan she calls 15/33. Her willpower and ingenuity prove more than a match for the callous brutality of those who wish her ill as this exciting tale builds to a surprising climax. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron & Associates.

Starred review from February 1, 2016

She is taken in a flash, thrown into the back of a van, tied up, and blindfolded. She is 16, pregnant, and in trouble. The room she is taken to is three floors up-a farmhouse, perhaps? The man who kidnapped her comes in at precisely the same time three times a day to give her food. A doctor comes to check on the health of her baby, and once, a couple comes to be assured that their new baby-her baby-will be blue-eyed and healthy. She waits. She collects "assets," such as the handle from the bathroom bucket, a towel, or a blanket. She practices her escape and plans her revenge. Kirk's brilliantly executed novel alternates between the kidnapped girl and Special Agent Roger Liu-the detective assigned to find her. He and his partner slowly and methodically collect clues as they make their way to the remote hideaway. Meanwhile, the kidnapped girl is stuck in the room awaiting her certain death at the hands of the brutal man and his partners. But her brilliance is exceeded only by her ability to plan, calculate, observe, and wait. The abductors never have a chance as she orchestrates a conclusion that will leave readers satisfied and possibly unsettled. Readers wait with her as she ponders the right moment to make a move even as they suspect that it might not work. VERDICT Give this to teens who read Stephen King and other psychological thrillers, especially those with a penchant for dark and violent suspense.-Connie Williams, Petaluma High School, CA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2015
Nietzsche warned us to beware of people with a strong desire to punish. That thought lingers after putting down this dark, disturbing, damnably readable novel. Lisa is a pregnant teenager kidnapped by a gang that wants her baby for their own purposes. They lock her away, not knowing that what they have is a computer in a girl suit. At once, she's observing and memorizing anything that might aid a bid for freedom. A bucket handle, a bottle of bleach, all part of the numbers in the title. Readers who seek crime fiction for its strong narrative line will be puzzled here and there, as when Lisa stalls her story to discourse on research in The Journal of Neuroscience. Or when a lawman, in the middle of an exciting pursuit, stops to reminisce about his brother. In the vengeful finale, Lisa seems to have become someone who's had the good emotions burned out of her and indulges bad ones just to feel alive. The novel is a worthy challenge, a joy to discuss, and a great pairing with John Katzenbach's equally riveting What Comes Next (2012). But it's not a fun, diverting read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)