The Night I Disappeared

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY APR 22, 2002

Admirers of Deaver's Say Goodnight, Gracie may welcome the return of two of that book's protagonists but are likely to end up disappointed: the characterizations here are thin and the plotting will seem obvious to anyone at all familiar with YA problem novels. Jamie Tessman, underachieving daughter of a high-profile attorney mother (Jamie's father died when she was three), has only one friend, Webb, and she has seen him every day since meeting him when she was nine. But this summer they part: Webb backpacks through Europe, and Jamie accompanies her mother to Chicago, where Ms. Tessman is defending a girl in a sensational court case. Her mother works so hard that Jamie is able to conceal the problem that terrifies her she loses herself in seemingly real fantasies of being with Webb. An accident resulting from one such lapse brings about a trip to the emergency room, where she meets Morgan (fully recovered from the grief and depression that beset her in Gracie) and Morgan's psychiatrist aunt. Deaver plants somewhat clunky clues to Jamie's condition, and not many readers will be surprised when, midway through, Webb turns out to be imaginary, nor when Jamie, in treatment with Morgan's aunt, recovers the memory of the trauma that gave birth to him. The ease of Jamie's recovery equals the superficiality of the setup; this is escapist fare, short on emotional truth. Ages 11-up.