THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED by April Henry

copyright date: March 2012

primarily marketed for:  young adults (12 and up)

The Night She Disappeared is the newest novel by April Henry, author of Girl, Stolen. 

And it is every bit as good. 

The book opens with a pizza delivery receipt, then jumps to the point of view of Drew, who wrote out that very order slip.  Drew took the order, then sent Kayla to make the delivery.  Only Kayla never came back. 

The police end up finding Kayla’s car, purse, cell phone, and the pizzas, but no sign of where Kayla might have gone.  It turns out that Kayla switched delivery shifts with her co-worker Gabie, and the man who placed the order even asked if Gabie would be making the delivery.  Was Gabie actually the one being targeted?  

This is a classic mystery story told in a fresh way.  The story continues, just as it began, by switching points of view and peppering in writing in other formats, like the receipt.  At one point, readers even get a terrifying glimpse of Kayla’s point of view as well as creepy insight into the mind of her kidnapper. 

The story unfolds through chapters labeled in terms of the number of days since Kayla first disappeared.  Drew and his co-worker Gabie are left to try to figure things out and rescue Kayla since the police seem to be following all the wrong leads (this was the only irritating part of the book, but since it made for a better story than it would have if the police actually did their jobs, it was easy to overlook this one unbelievable piece of the story). 

I love April Henry’s ability to craft a perfectly terrifying mystery that seems just a bit too realistic to be settling without crossing the line into ooky creepiness (though she just edge right up to the line in the most satisfying of ways).  If you like a good creepy mystery, then you will know just what I mean when you read The Night She Disappeared!