The Night She Disappeared






Summer Reading














By: April Henry


My summer novel, The Night She Disappeared, by April Henry, is a really nail-biting mystery. Pete’s Pizza is where Gabie Klug, Kayla Cutler, and Drew Lyle work. Gabie Klug is a junior at Wilson High School. Her parents are paramedics so their family is very wealthy. She is an only child and owns a white Mini Cooper. Drew Lyle goes to school with Gabie. His mom is a drug addict and they live in a small apartment. They don’t really have a lot of money. Kayla Cutler has a brother and they live with their mom and dad. She is a bright energetic and is very pretty.
The mysterious thriller began on a normal busy night at Pete’s Pizza when Drew got a call from a ‘John Robertson’ who wanted to order 3 Meat Monster Pizza’s. What was weird is that the man asked Drew, “Is the girl in the White Mini Cooper making deliveries tonight?” Drew didn’t answer, he just gave him his total he had to pay and hung up. Kayla traded workdays with Gabie so Kayla made the delivery instead. An hour or so later Kayla still hadn’t come back from the delivery for John Robertson. Drew is worried and calls the police.
The police searched for the address of where she had to make the delivery, it didn’t exist. Also the man who ordered the pizzas said his name was John Robertson. He didn’t exist either. But they did find a red car on the side of the road by a river with 3 Meat Monster Pizzas scattered on the ground, a purse and cell phone on the passenger seat and the door was wide open. Come to find out, it was Kayla Cutler’s car and her purse and cell phone. Kayla Cutler had been taken.
The police didn’t know who took her and if she was still alive. A couple of yards away there was a rock that had blood on it. It was Kayla’s blood. They thought they would find her in the river so they searched for her but they couldn’t find her. All of her friends are devastated especially her family. Gabie was really sad because it was supposed to be her who was scheduled to make deliveries that night.
Kayla woke up in this dark room. Her head aches and when she touches it she feels a warm liquid. She screams for help over and over again but no one hears her. She stumbles around to find a door or a light switch and she finds a door. She tries to open it but it won’t budge. There is a light switch next to the door and she turns it on. There is a bed and a T.V in the room. She is being a captive in the room. As the sad days go on John Robertson would bring her a sandwich with cheese and mustard in it every day. One day he brought her a Target bag and eight water bottles. In the Target bag was a pair of men’s sweatpants, and a man’s t-shirt. At the bottom of the bag was women’s underwear. The underwear wasn’t new, so she wondered if there was another woman in the house.
As police investigated, a guy named Cody Renfrew was reported seen at the site of Kayla’s kidnapping in his white pickup truck. When the police put an announcement out, he just so happened to spray paint his truck brown. So the police brought him in for questioning, but they didn’t get any information. A few days later, Cody Renfrew showed up at Pete’s Pizza and he was telling Gabie that they were trying to pin Kayla’s kidnapping on him. After Cody went to Pete’s Pizza, the police got a 911 call from Cody Renfrew and he was reporting a suicide and he was the victim. Everyone thought that if Kayla’s kidnapper, which he wasn’t, killed himself then Kayla might be dead too. So they had a funeral for her and a lot of people went.
One day Drew was coming back from a delivery and a car was right on his bumper. So close that their bumpers could kiss. When Drew would speed up the car behind him would speed up. And then BAM, the car behind Drew hit the mini cooper, Gabie’s mini cooper. When Drew got out the man behind him said, “Excuse me mam?” And that’s when Drew recognized the voice of the man who made the fake pizza order, John Robertson. That was the man who took Kayla. When the man saw it wasn’t Gabie driving he quickly got back in his car and drove away. Drew was deciding to follow him. Will Kayla’s friend’s curiosity save her before she dies?

I really love mysteries and realistic fiction. If you do too, then this is the book for you. The Author really puts images in my mind. Also she had real evidence and other things that a real crime would. I think the theme of this book is don’t give up on life because someone might come to help you. The Author did a lot of research on her topic for her book. She also is my favorite author and this is now my favorite book.