Janie Face to Face

Starred review from February 18, 2013
The fifth and final installment of Janie Johnson's story brings the series that started more than two decades ago with The Face on the Milk Carton to a highly gratifying close. Janie—who in high school discovered that the family that raised her was not the one she was born to—is now in college, keeping her complicated past to herself to make a fresh start in New York City. When a true-crime author wants to use Janie as the subject of his next book, a complex chain of events propels her back into the arms of her onetime boyfriend, Reeve. Meanwhile, Janie's long-ago kidnapper, Hannah, embarks on a vengeful quest. Quick, short scenes and plenty of crosscutting between numerous characters' points of view keep the story moving with breathless momentum. Cooney generates a compassionate and thorough sense of closure by interweaving brief updates on nearly every individual—teenager or adult—that has appeared in the series. Though there's never much doubt that Janie, Reeve, and Hannah will end up where they ought to be, it's a treat to watch them get there. Ages 12 – up.

August 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-Cooney wraps up her popular thriller romance series that debuted more than 20 years ago about a young girl who discovers her face on a milk carton, setting in motion a series of rollercoaster events that affected many lives. In this installment (Delacorte, 2013), Janie Johnson/Jenny Spring is still walking the tightrope between her "real" parents and the parents who raised her for most of her life and is desperately trying to figure out who she is. Narrator Alyssa Bresnahan has a difficult task, as Cooney moves the viewpoint from character to character in order to present the whole story. She conveys the confusion and frustration of Janie/Jenny using a higher pitch and alternating volume as she goes from shy and fearful to strong and joyful. Bresnahan tackles each of the secondary characters including Jenny's brothers and sister, both sets of her parents, on again off again boyfriend Reeve, and the unstable kidnapper Hannah who started it all. Each voice has a unique quality and the character comes through clearly thanks to the narrator's use of tone, pitch, and volume. Those unfamiliar with the series will still be able to follow the plotting as Cooney continually refers back to past events. However, after listening to this engrossing tale, they are sure to want to discover how it all started. Cooney has also included a bonus short story, "What Janie Saw," that fans of the series will embrace with gusto.-Shari Fesko, Southfield Public Library, MI

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.