With a narration perfectly reflecting the voice of a 13-year-old girl’s versatile actress Emily Bauer captures her audience. In the portions in which a young girl’s voice is heard Bauer ably conveys childishness, curiosity, self-satisfaction, fear, and eventually emerging coming-of-age.
Lizzie Hood and her next door neighbor, Evie Verver, are the best of friends. Inseparable, they share everything from clothing to field-hockey sticks to secrets. Theirs is a friendship both are sure will last forever....until shortly before their 8th grade graduation Evie disappears.
Of course, everyone is frantic to locate the missing child and since Lizzie was her best friend she becomes the focus of attention; it seems the questions might never end. Was Evie unhappy? Would she get into a car with a stranger?
As the mystery unfolds we’re privy to a close look at the Ververs, outwardly a happy family but beneath the surface there are tensions. We see Dusty, Evie’s older sister, and the tangled relationship between mother, father and their two daughters from Lizzie’s point of view. Midwestern suburbia, it seems, is not at all what it appeared to be.
Lizzie is haunted by dreams of her friend and soon begins investigating on her own. Her discoveries not only shake her belief in who Evie really was but bring her to a burgeoning awareness of the world in which she lives.
Award winning author Abbott (the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award) has crafted another stunning tale that will keep listeners enthralled from the first words to the last line.
Enjoy.
- Gail Cooke
No comments:
Post a Comment