The Night I Disappeared - Softcover

Deaver, Julie Reece

3.85

1,224 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743439791 ISBN 13: 9780743439794

Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2002

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HELD HOSTAGE BY AN INNER WORLD
Something scary is happening to seventeen-year-old Jamie Tessman. Ever since she and her mother arrived in Chicago, she's been plagued by freaky mind-slips and vivid daydreams about her sort-of boyfriend, Webb. When Jamie's inner world starts taking her hostage and keeping her imprisoned for longer periods of time, she becomes terrified that she is slowly losing her mind.
Jamie's mom doesn't seem to notice anything is wrong. No one does -- until Jamie meets Morgan, a new friend who's had her own "brush with nuttiness." When Jamie disappears into her inner world one night and can't find her way out, Morgan sees to it that Jamie finally gets help. Morgan's aunt, a psychiatrist, breaks through Jamie's paralyzing fear and helps her unravel a tangle of long-forgotten, horrifying secrets in her past....

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About the Author:

Julie Reece Deaver grew up in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author of several novels, including Say Goodnight, Gracie, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, which introduced two of the characters featured in The Night I Disappeared. Deaver has worked as a teacher’s aide in special education and started her writing career in television comedy. She is an artist as well as a writer; her illustrations have appeared in The New Yorker, Reader’s Digest, and The Chicago Tribune. She lives on the Monterey Peninsula in California with her blue-eyed cat, Lincoln Rhyme. Readers are welcome to contact her at JulieDeaver@aol.com.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 8 Up-Jamie Tessman's widowed mother is a powerful attorney, currently working to defend a young woman accused of killing her stepfather. The Tessmans live in Monterey, CA, but the case and trial are in Chicago, so they move there for the summer. Jamie is distraught at having to say good-bye to her dearest friend, Webb, a young man who seems always to be there for her. In Chicago, Jamie is shocked to find herself in a bike accident that was caused, apparently, by nothing except her own lack of awareness of her surroundings. In the emergency room, where she needs only minor patching, she meets Morgan, a girl a year older than herself, and, in the following days, Jamie develops the first friendship she remembers having with someone other than Webb. However, her states of clouded awareness become supplemented by panic attacks and soon her mother acquires psychiatric intervention for her. The psychiatrist is Morgan's aunt, a warm but efficient clinician who, very quickly, is able to establish the truth about Webb's existence and the terrifying trauma at the root of Jamie's emotional distress. Deaver has plotted this tale tightly and there are details to appeal to many reader interests-some suspense, some female bonding, even gourmet food. The psychiatric treatment is incredibly facile and speedy and Jamie's mother runs hot and cold by turns. However, this story goes beyond simplistic light reading to offer glimpses at such issues as how emotions can protect us and how we grow through different stages of recognizing truths in appearances.
Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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