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THE GIRL WHO DISAPPEARED TWICE
by Andrea Kane
Mira, May 2011
400 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 0778329844


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

THE GIRL WHO DISAPPEARED TWICE is the title of a new suspense novel by Andrea Kane. That the title of this mystery is misleading is the least of the book's problems. Kane has written a book with great potential but little in the way of fulfilling that potential. The characters are sketchily drawn. We are told about them, but have little chance to see them actually behaving in ways that clearly differentiate them. Except for the opening sequence, we are told about events and people, rather than shown.

Krissy, a 5-year-old girl, the daughter of Judge Hope Willis, is kidnapped in front of her school. This is the second time we are told about a kidnapping, as The Prologue also dealt with a kidnapping, though from the distant past. The witnesses to Krissy's abduction all say she was picked up by her mother. But this does not appear to be the case. Who is responsible? There seem to be plenty of suspects, including the nanny who has been having an affair with the girl's mob-lawyer father, a fired court clerk, as well as people related to a similar crime from the family's past. Even the Mafia comes under suspicion, through both past and present connections to the girl's family. But none of this rings true to the reader, who may also find the many, many detectives and FBI and former FBI agents hard to tell apart.

This is especially true since the novel focuses on an elite private investigative group called Forensics Instincts, headed by Casey Woods. Casey is ex-Navy Seal with an educational background in both criminal justice and psychology. But the only time we really see her in action is in the aforementioned opening scene. Her team is supposed to use unconventional methods, but they are not really very far out. The use of a clairvoyant, appropriately named Claire, is perhaps their furthest reach. And not all members of the team are supportive of Claire, although she does seem to have an uncanny knack of seeing exactly what is going on with the kidnapped girl. The inherent clash between the various investigative groups, which might have added some subversive spice, never really becomes an issue, with everyone more or less behaving in a proper and boring manner.

Long before the crack team has put it together, this reader, at least, had figured it all out and had become quite impatient with the fact that they had not. The writer has the general idea of a thriller within her grasp, but the execution needs some work.

Anne Corey is a writer, poet, teacher and botanical artist in New York's Hudson Valley.

Reviewed by Anne Corey, May 2011

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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