How to Disappear by Ann Redisch Stampler
Published by Simon Pulse on June 14, 2016
How to Disappear by Ann Redisch Stampler was twisty and turny and so much fun to read. Nicolette is a sixteen year-old on the run. A murder near her home has her fleeing small town Ohio and hitting the road with a pocketful of fake names and a bag full of hair dye. Jack is the opposite of his family, smart, and on a straight path, he displays none of his family’s murderous traits. Until a threat to his mother’s life convinces him to join the family business for just one job. Find Nicolette and end her before she can escape.
Told from both Jack and Nicolette’s perspective in alternating chapters, it was an engrossing read watching them creep closer and closer together. Then, unexpected attraction turns a cat and mouse game into a deadly fight to keep love and themselves alive. The pacing was constantly moving forward and I loved how there was very little down time in the action. I also liked the character motivation. It never felt hokey to have Jack hunting down Nicolette and the way their stories crisscrossed only enhanced the tension.
The thing I enjoyed most about this read was the ending. Until the last few chapters this was a good book and I was enjoying it. However the ending made it and the epilogue sealed the deal. It was so well plotted that I never saw it coming and the way a lot of tiny things were buried in the story that you could only see a the end made it so good. And back to the epilogue, holy crapsticks it changed the entire book! I had thought I knew where everyone’s motivations came from and their true actions and then bam, everything changed. It was such an inventive way to tell the story that I had to go back and re-read passages to see them in the light of the new information. How to Disappear by Ann Redisch Stampler was definitely a winner of a thriller for me.
I received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.