Now You See Her
Buy the Book: Amazon Published by: Harper Teen
Release Date: March 1, 2007
ISBN13: 978-0061116834
Overview
Now You See Her tells the story of Hope Shay—who, at just fifteen, seems to have the very stars at her fingertips. An accomplished actor and a student at the elite Starwood Academy for the Performing Arts, she’s seems to be thriving in every way when suddenly and horribly, she vanishes. Deep in the Michigan woods, Starwood prides itself on its security and individual attention to each student. An abduction seems almost impossible. But police and volunteers begin the largest manhunt the area has ever known. As they do, troubling questions about Hope’s seemingly perfect life and outwardly supportive family begin to emerge. Her “stage parents” may have disturbing secrets of their own. Every aspect of her life—as a young girl in love with an older boy and as an actor—comes under scrutiny. And when hints that Hope may have faked her own kidnapping emerge, no one knows what lies ahead for this beautiful girl.
Destined for fame, will she now face prosecution? Is Hope an ordinary teen disappointed by love or do her problems go much deeper? Hope’s is not a story of mental illness, but of broken hearts and dreams, a family who loved perhaps too much, and, ironically, a story of real hope for a vulnerable girl not so very different from many girls we already know.
Praise
“Mitchard pulls out all the stops in this psychological thriller…This riveting page-turner is sure to be in hot demand.”
—School Library Journal
“With plenty of kid speak and pop-culture references, this melodrama steeped in our celebrity culture should fly off the shelves.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Excerpt
Hope is vanishing.
Does that sound too dramatic?
Okay, fine. It’s really just barely dramatic enough. Maybe not even enough.
I don’t mean "hope" the way they think. How could I explain it to them? They’re beyond stupid. They’re clueless and retarded. All of them. I hear my mother and father say, "She doesn’t realize the gravity of all this..." and I want to yell, are you crazy? Are you on crack?
I’m the one it happened to. So I, like, sort of understand the GRAVITY. I had the bruises on my wrists for weeks. I wouldn’t even go outside to walk to the classroom building from my gorgeous dorm at my lovely NEW school for months, either. And I still won’t go out at night. I don’t even like to look out the window when it’s dark.
Let’s try this again, class. This time with motions!
I was a girl with a gift, who was totally going places, and now I’m the girl no one will ever know except as "that Hope somebody-or-other, the girl who vanished."
Well, at least for the time being, until I can straighten everyone’s head out! That’s not exactly fun and games!
My mother used to say that every news story, even a bad review, was good if they spelled your name right. Good for an actor, that is. (We never said "actress" in our house. That was for people who didn’t know any better. Anyone who’s serious about acting is an "actor," even if you’re a girl.) What my mother meant was that someday I’d be on Broadway or in the movies or have CD’s with my name on them bigger than the title of the CD, and then we wouldn’t care less what people thought of my performances, because I’d be wonderful and I’d know it!
I don’t think this was what she had in mind!
