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Summary
Summary
From the author of the multimillion-copy bestseller The Face on the Milk Carton , comes a new riveting page-turner.
Murder. One of the Allerdon sisters has been charged with a pre-meditated killing and taken to jail. It doesn't seem possible--but it's happening. What was supposed to be a typical summer is anything but for this seemingly ordinary family.
Shortly after they arrive at their cozy family cottage on the river, Lander meets and is smitten witha handsome young man, and they begin to date. Miranda has a bad feeling about her sister's new boyfriend. And when the family must deal with an unimaginable nightmare, Miranda can't help feeling that the boyfriend has something to do with it.
The police say they have solid evidence against Lander. Miranda wants to believe in her sister when she swears she is innocent. But as Miranda digs deeper into the past few weeks of Lander's life, she wonders why everything keeps pointing to Lander's guilt.
"Jangling suspense juxtaposed with cozy details of family life keeps thriller master Cooney's latest zooming along." -- Publishers Weekly, S tarred Review
"Full of twists and turns . . . has all the elements that keep young mystery lovers coming back for more."-- School Library Journal
"No one writes suspense like Cooney . . . . Haunting, harrowing, and hard to put down."-- Kirkus Reviews
"Cleverly plotted . . . rooted in suspense . . . fully satisfying. Mystery fans will be delighted."-- Booklist
Author Notes
Caroline Cooney was born in 1947 in Geneva, New York. She studied music, art, and English at various colleges, but never graduated. She began writing while in college. Her young adult books include The Face on the Milk Carton, Whatever Happened to Janie?, The Voice on the Radio, What Janie Found, No Such Person, and the Cheerleaders Series. She received an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and an ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults for Driver's Ed and an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers for Twenty Pageants Later. Two of her titles, The Rear View Mirror and The Face on the Milk Cartoon, were made into television movies.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Jangling suspense juxtaposed with cozy details of family life keeps thriller master Cooney's latest zooming along. While spending the summer at their family's home on the Connecticut River, easy-going 15-year-old Miranda Allerdon and her driven, med-school-bound sister, Lander, witness what appears to be a freak water-skiing accident. Miranda is one of the few bystanders to see that the boy driving the motorboat seemed to intentionally maneuver the water-skier he was towing in front of a giant barge. Ignoring Miranda's suspicions, Lander is smitten with the motorboat driver and begins dating him. Miranda's talents get a chance to shine when another apparent accident, chillingly teased in the opening pages of the novel, thrusts Lander outside the boundaries of her carefully planned life. An unexpected romance for Miranda provides a sweet counterpoint to the novel's knife-edge mayhem. Viewed in isolation, some of the plot twists edge toward the incredible, but Cooney's knack for distinctive characterizations grounds the story firmly in the familiar world, while the third-person narration strikes an enticing balance between intimacy and cool detachment. Ages 12-up. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Miranda and her exacting older sister Lander don't get along, but when Lander is framed for murder, Miranda tries desperately to uncover the true killer. With the sisters' alternating perspectives, this thriller unfolds at a quick, steady pace. The suspense ultimately wraps up too predictably, but an eerily idyllic setting and unique cast of suspects make for an otherwise satisfying whodunit. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Miranda, 15, and Lander, 22, are sisters, but their relationship is an uneasy one. Lander is the favored daughter, a gifted golden girl who is beginning medical school. Miranda feels as though she lives in her older sister's shadow, but things change dramatically when Lander is arrested and charged with murder. Miranda believes she knows the real murderer's identity and is determined to find the fugitive. Meanwhile, Lander is desperate to discover who the victim is due to circumstances, she can't be sure that she isn't a killer. Is she, and will Miranda's investigation put her in harm's way? Readers will find out gradually, as the action moves back and forth between both sisters' points of view. Veteran author Cooney has written another cleverly plotted novel rooted in suspense suspense that only escalates as more facts are revealed about the case. Despite these revelations, the denouement still comes as a startling and fully satisfying surprise. Mystery fans will be delighted by Cooney's latest.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2015 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-Fifteen-year-old Miranda Allerdon is used to being the pesky, overly imaginative little sister trailing behind gorgeous, brilliant 19-year-old Lander. While spending the summer at the family's cottage on the river, Lander meets and falls hopelessly in love with mysterious Jason, but Miranda is convinced there is something dangerous about him. When a murder occurs near the river, the police obtain a search warrant for the Allerdon home, convinced Lander is involved in the crime. Miranda believes Jason is responsible for her sister being implicated in the case but is increasingly disturbed as she reviews Lander's actions over the last few weeks and sees that much of the evidence makes her sister look guilty. Alternating between the perspectives of Miranda and Lander, this novel peeks behind the curtains of family dynamics and sibling rivalry, examining how these highly stressful circumstances affect each individual. Cooney builds tension and drama, layering clues and red herrings to keep readers questioning and trying to solve the mystery along with Miranda. The narrative becomes a bit tiresome when it dwells too long inside Miranda's head, replaying her insecurities and self-doubt a few too many times. Erin Spencer's narration is crisp and precise. VERDICT This audiobook will be popular with fans of Cooney's other mysteries, but overall it is not a standout in the YA mystery genre, lacking the adrenaline and edge that teen listeners crave. ["Although this title follows the predictable formula commonly found in Cooney's thrillers, it also has all of the elements that keep young mystery lovers coming back for more": SLJ 4/1/15 review of the Delacorte book.]-Tara Hixon, Piedmont Public Schools, OK © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Slowly and methodically, the tale unfolds of how two sisters spending the summer at their family cottage on the shore of the Connecticut River find themselves at the center of a murder investigation. Fifteen-year-old Miranda has always walked in the shadow of her older sister, rising med student Lander, yet it is Miranda who shines here, as she alone musters the courage and determination to do what it takes to save her family. Interestingly, the story is told from two perspectives, both those of close third-person narrators. This clever technique allows just enough distance between story and readers to maintain the gauzy, unsettling haze that keeps the truth just out of sight. Unfortunately, the cast of characters feels slightly unbalanced, particularly when it comes to Miranda's parents and other secondary characters, who are surprisingly underdeveloped given their ultimate roles. If readers can suspend disbelief just long enough to believe that a young teen like Miranda would be left on her own under such dangerous circumstances, they won't regret going along for the ride. No one writes suspense like Cooney, and this novel will ensnare readers from Page 1 and keep them turning the pages until they, like the nameless young woman at the center of the opening chapter, know for certain who is dead and who is the killer. Haunting, harrowing, and hard to put down. (Mystery. 13 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
At first the police are casual. She too is casual. Puzzled, but not worried. The questions become more intense. The questions frighten her. Where are the police going with this? They are not giving her time to think. Her tongue is dry and tastes of metal. Her hands are damp. Her breath is ragged. They're asking her about the boat. About the ownership of the boat. About the river. About the woods. It's difficult to swallow. Her voice rises in pitch. The police seem pleased by her fear. They have found the gun. They are holding it in a handkerchief. The crisp white cotton hangs down and the small dark weapon is thrust into her face for identification. They are standing too close to her, but she cannot back away. There is nowhere to go. "Yes, but it was just target practice," she says. She looks into the woods beyond the police officers. The towering trees are thick with vines and undergrowth, noisy with the clamor of insects. The heat of the day is crushing. Does she really prance into those woods? Hold a real gun and shoot a real bullet? She is blinded by the horror of what they are saying now. She stares at the gun. It is small and stubby. It will have her fingerprints on it. Her palm print. "That's impossible," she whispers. It is not impossible that a gun could kill. It is not impossible that the police have found a body. The impossible part is that she has anything to do with it. "Red bandanna,"she explains, gulping air into her lungs. "We tied it to a tree. For target practice." She has never touched a gun before. She is anti-gun. She believes that people who own and use guns are sick and must be controlled. She would never live in one of those states where people shoot for the fun of shooting. Only people in the army should use guns and even then, they should only be peace-keepers. But there she was, a few hours ago: giggling, happy, flirting, going along with the idea. Using the gun herself. They want to know more about him. She gives them his name and is frightened by how little else she knows. How few facts she can come up with. This is impossible. Of course she knows something about him. They feel the same. Of course you know. She shakes her head. It does something to her body. Now she's shaking all over. They want her to come with them. She cannot seem to coordinate her feet. They pull at her to get her going. She is horrified by their hands on her. She draws her elbows in and hunches down. Her teeth are chattering. She wants to see the dead person, but they won't let her. It's a crime scene, they explain. They imply that she has already seen it. No! she thinks. There was no one there. It didn't happen. The police stare at her. Their eyes glitter. She is a fawn surrounded by wolves. She and the police walk up a path. She has not noticed the path until now. The salt marsh is on her right, the reeds taller than she is. Impenetrable. Quivery in the wind. The woods are on the left. The ground is low-lying and often flooded, so debris piles up against the tree trunks. She can barely find a place to put her feet, never mind her thoughts. This cannot be happening. She is a good person. A moral person. A successful person. Someone in the woods is dead by gunshot? They must be wrong about that. There was nobody there, she tells herself. I didn't shoot anybody. They have reached a road. She is surprised to find pavement so close. Coming by water, the place seemed so remote. She doesn't recognize the road, which is confusing, because she is a local. It must be someone's driveway. But she sees no house. Instead she sees a police car. Parked behind it are two more police cars. They open the back door of the cruiser. The back is where prisoners go. They are opening that door for her. She stops walking. She tries to grip the soil with the bottoms of her sneakers. The female officer asks what is in the pocket of her Bermuda shorts. "Is it a weapon? Anything sharp?" It is her cell phone, of course. They do not let her pull it out. They take it. Her hand actually aches for the weight and texture of that little rectangle. The cell phone is her best friend. It never lets her down. Now it is evidence. She has not agreed to this. She will be lost without her phone. She must have it back. She reaches to retrieve it, and they glare at her as if she is overstepping the bounds, to want her own cell phone in her own hand. They tell her to get into the back of the police car. Rarely in her life has she even been nervous. Now fear owns her, like a dog holding a duck in its teeth. She shoves at the fear, but it is a police officer she is hitting. They take her arm. Not roughly, but as if it is theirs. She tries to pull free. They're too strong. They shout at her to calm down and behave. No! Nothing will make her get into that police car. This is not her life! This is not-- They grip her shoulders and elbows. They pull her arms behind her. They are going to put handcuffs on her wrists. She doubles over, drags them down, tries to head butt them. They are shouting in her ear, deafening her, trying to knee her into the car. She is screaming, kicking. She would bite them if she could. "Stop it!" they yell at her. She is an animal. Intelligence, knowledge and poise are gone. She who dislikes bracelets, can't stand the jangle, is irritated by how they slide up, slide down--she now has bracelets that cannot be removed. They tell her to be good; to cooperate. Act your age, they say, as if she is having a tantrum in kindergarten. She fights so hard it takes four of them to trap her in the backseat of the police car, and before they are done, they have also fastened her ankles together with a padded Velcro strip, like a massive Band-Aid. They close the door. The brutal metallic slam shuts her up. She stops screaming. She doesn't look left or right, up or down. She freezes, hoping it will all go away, like a shadow in the night. I won't cry, she tells herself. But she does. The tears stream down her face. She has no tissue. She can't even use her short sleeve because of the way her wrists are fastened. There is so much horror in her mind that she can't arrange it; can't assess it. Pieces of nightmare fly in her face like the wings of vultures; like carrion birds eager to chew on her flesh. Who is dead? Why do they think I did it? Are they right? What if they are right? Am I a killer? Excerpted from No Such Person by Caroline B. Cooney All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.