The Night My Sister Went Missing

I loved this book. I felt I could relate to the characters well. The twists and turns in the story will keep you reading and not wanting to put it down. Some of the subject matter is a bit mature for younger readers.

The night Kurt Carmody's sister went missing was like any other island dune party when the parents were out of town. The usual crowd of year-round islanders were on the burned out pier horsing around and tossing back a few beers, Troubled rich kid Stacey Kearny brought a glamorously tiny pistol to the beach, and after it had gone through a dozen hands, the pistol went off, and Casey Carmody was suddenly no longer on the pier. With no splash. Carol Plum-Ucci's fourth YA novel is set in a single night in the island town of Mystic. Kurt is a hostage at the police station, waiting for his parents to return on the soonest fight out of Los Angeles. The small town detectives haven't mastered their new interview room, so Kurt and his best friend Drew can hear the stories of every kid who makes a statement to the police. A web of island secrets and family tensions unfolds in the late-night interviews. The story is a decent thriller with shifting, just-out-of-reach villains, but the book pales in comparison to Plum-Ucci's What Happened to Lani Garver. Many of the supporting characters are one-dimensional props used to repeat Plum-Ucci's familiar themes about high school cliques and stereotypes. Our narrator is wrestling with college decisions on that evening at the pier, and the book weakly delivers an epiphany about career choices in the final chapter.

Kurt Carmody and his sister Casey are at a party on the pier, breaking lots of rules while their parents are out of town. When Casey disappears after a gunshot is heard, Kurt is left to spend the night at the police station, trying to figure out what happened. Everyone thinks they know and are happy to point fingers. Secrets, and much more, are uncovered about the Mystic Marvels, the insulated group that Kurt and Casey hang out with on the island. No one has discovered a body, so where is Casey? Kurt finds a place to sit and wait at the station, and is able to hear some of the police interviews with other teens from the party. At 17, Kurt had gone to the party having doubts about heading to the Naval Academy. He had argued the night before with his 15-year-old sister about her older boyfriend, Mark Stern. So Kurt was separated from Casey at the pier, busy talking to a geeky kid who seemed to be happy with a set future. Casey loved pranks. An accomplished diver, she joked lots of times about diving off the pier. So how come no one can find her? Kurt thinks back to the gun that was passed around. It was small enough to be a toy, and no one seems to know whose it was or where it is now. Several teens think Stacey Kearny is involved. She is a bit of an outsider who has done kind things. But now she is Mark Stern's ex-girlfriend, is rumored to be pregnant, and was heard screaming when Casey disappeared. She is also supposed to have a big crush on Kurt, who grows tired of all the rumors and goes down to help the search. His Naval Academy sweatshirt washes up, with a clean hole through it, but no blood. He finds Stacey also looking for Casey, who admits she purchased the gun. As each person speaks, Kurt begins to see what no one else can --- that there is more than one victim, and a lot more to Stacey than anyone realizes. THE NIGHT MY SISTER WENT MISSING has all the suspense and drama of a locked-room mystery. Everyone observed the gun, but no one really saw anything. Carol Plum-Ucci, author of the award-winning THE BODY OF CHRISTOPHER CREED, has crafted an intricate mystery filled with shocking surprises and characters whom readers will remember for a long time. --- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

Carol Plum-Ucci is a phenomenal writer who mixes elements of thrillers, mysteries, and problem novels with great success. In her latest, THE NIGHT MY SISTER WENT MISSING, she covers familiar territory from earlier novels without costing the story a suspenseful edge or satisfying conclusion. With her usual cast of sympathetic characters, readers are drawn into the story and feel as if they have a stake in the outcome. The narrator, Kurt Carmody, learns the details of his sister's disappearance while eavesdropping on an interrogation room at police headquarters. Although there were many people there when Casey Carmody vanished, including Kurt himself, each witness' testimony is limited by personal bias against the main suspect, Stacy Kearn. Stacy and her father appear to be guilty of several crimes as well as an assortment of inappropriate personality quirks. Yet readers are wise not to rush to judgment in the story. No one and nothing is as it appears, neither those under suspicion for Casey's disappearance nor those who rush to help her and claim innocence. Like her earlier novels, particularly The Body of Christopher Creed and What Happened to Lani Garver, Plum-Ucci creates a realistic sense of community guilt for the mysterious, tragic events in the lives of teenagers. Those who are viewed as outsiders and are made to feel unwelcome suffer for the intolerance of others. This message rings through the novels closing chapters without overpowering the reader. As in previous novels, the author tackles community myths and legends in order to show that there's usually a logical reason behind so-called paranormal events. Although the ghost of a suicide victim is given short-play in this novel, this subplot is engaging enough to leave the reader in doubt about the nature of Casey's disappearance until the novel's conclusion. There may be no better mystery writer in today's market for maintaining tension without sacrificing realistic endings than Ms. Plum-Ucci. Five stars. Highly recommended. Reviewed by: Mark Frye, author and reviewer

Carol Plum-Ucci's THE NIGHT MY SISTER WENT MISSING will also reach ages 12 and older with a riveting story: this about playing with a gun, a vanished sister, and a brother's investigation of what really happened that night. The first-person story is realistic and compelling.