Review: The Night She Disappeared

The Night She Disappeared by April Henry
Release Date ~ March 13, 2012
Henry Holt & Co. ~ Macmillan
ISBN13: 9780805092622
E-galley received from publisher for review
Goodreads Synopsis:
Gabie drives a Mini Cooper. She also works part time as a delivery girl at Pete’s Pizza. One night, Kayla—another delivery girl—goes missing. To her horror, Gabie learns that the supposed kidnapper had asked if the girl in the Mini Cooper was working that night. Gabie can’t move beyond the fact that Kayla’s fate was really meant for her, and she becomes obsessed with finding Kayla. She teams up with Drew, who also works at Pete’s. Together, they set out to prove that Kayla isn’t dead—and to find her before she is.
Since I was still in the mood for a crime story, I picked up The Night She Disappeared - and was so pleased to find that it did closely follow the mystery of a missing girl, and the probability of her murder. And even though there were more aspects to the story than just the kidnapping, it worked out well since the kidnapping kept the story moving along quickly.

A fast-paced, intriguing story more than makes up for a couple confusing aspects to the book and The Night She Disappeared is a great YA pick for fans of crime TV shows and movies.

1. An exciting, exhilerating roller coaster ride of a novel:
   
   This book is FAST. You're just thrown into the story, and before you know it, it's all over (too soon). And watching everything unfold is almost sickening in some ways, because we know that stories like this one are all too real. They do happen. It's messed up and sick, but I really did like how it captured and held my attention so easily and really made me feel so much anxiety over the course of the story.
2. A fascinating premise:
   I thought the idea of the story involving Gabie, and how it was supposed to be Gabie who was kidnapped as completely fascinating. It worked well as a plot device and for setting the story in motion, and offered a frightening perspective from Gabie's point of view.

That being said, I wasn't a fan of the numerous perspectives - a number of which I found to be unnecessary. I wish the story had stuck closer to just Gabie and Drew, rather than everyone else around them (and "John Robertson"). Too much of the story was muddles and lost by including so many chapters told from different POVs.

As well, too many parts were unbelievable regarding the way the crime was wrapped up and dealt with. It was a little too convenient and neatly tied up for my taste - and I had some issues with the police characters as well because they just seemed too conveniently useless for the story's sake.

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