Aftermath

A white teenage girl must navigate the emotional aftermath of her rescue from an abusive kidnapper. Sixteen-year-old Charlotte is rescued after four years imprisoned in the attic of a man she calls her Keeper. Despite her ordeal, she is determined to move on with her life as best she can, but she is shocked to discover the damage her absence wreaked on her family. Her parents are divorced, her mother has developed an alcohol problem, and her twin sister, Alexa, morphed from a happy-go-lucky young girl into an angry teenager with a troubled history. Dismayed, Charlotte becomes obsessed with trying to prove that her Keeper had previously abducted another girl before her--The One Before, who had not survived--in the desperate hope of giving that girl's family the closure her own family lacked while she was gone. She focuses her remaining energies on fulfilling the childhood goals she and Alexa once dreamed about, including their hope of joining the high school cheerleading squad. As narrated by Charlotte in the present tense, her path to recovery often feels forced. Too, her family's interactions lack subtlety and sensitivity proportionate to the horrors she experienced, contributing to a jarring dissonance between the sensitive nature of the subject matter and the tone of the narrative. A melodramatic take on a sensitive subject. (resources) (Fiction. 14-18) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-Once 16-year-old Charlotte is rescued from her kidnapper, she's anxious to return to her family, particularly her twin, Alexa. But during the four years she spent in her Keeper's attic, her family fell apart. Charlotte's parents are divorced, her mom is an alcoholic, and Alexa is in rehab for drug use. Now Charlotte must accept her dad's new wife and daughter, cope with reporters hounding her for interviews, and adjust to the pressures of high school. She's also determined to discover the identity of The One Before, a girl her captor killed prior to taking Charlotte. On top of all that, the teen's mom barely allows her to leave the house and her dad pressures her to talk to the press. Kensie's richly detailed descriptions of Charlotte's daily life redeem a plot overrun with melodrama. By the novel's end, it's difficult to accept that so many wretched events could befall one person. Both Alexa and her mom recover from their addictions so quickly it defies logic. However, Charlotte's bravery will inspire readers. Her ongoing struggle to confront the horror of what she's endured rings true, and her recovery process could provide therapeutic reading for rape survivors. VERDICT Teens who revel in worst-case scenario stories like Natasha Preston's The Cellar and Kevin Brooks's The Bunker Diary will enjoy the shocking plot twists.-Amy Duffy, Chicago Public Library

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.