How To Disappear by Ann Redisch Stampler

How To Disappear by Ann Redisch Stampler
Release Date - June 14, 2016

Publisher Website - Simon and Schuster
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 416 pages
My Rating - 3.5/5
**received from publisher for an honest review**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

This electric cross-country thriller follows the game of cat and mouse between a girl on the run from a murder she witnessed—or committed?—and the boy who’s sent to kill her.

Nicolette Holland is the girl everyone likes. Up for adventure. Loyal to a fault. And she’s pretty sure she can get away with anything...until a young woman is brutally murdered in the woods near Nicolette’s house. Which is why she has to disappear.

Jack Manx has always been the stand-up guy with the killer last name. But straight A’s and athletic trophies can’t make people forget that his father was a hit man and his brother is doing time for armed assault. Just when Jack is about to graduate from his Las Vegas high school and head east for college, his brother pulls him into the family business with inescapable instructions: find this ruthless Nicolette Holland and get rid of her. Or else Jack and everyone he loves will pay the price.

As Nicolette and Jack race to outsmart each other, tensions—and attractions—run high. Told in alternating voices, this tightly plotted mystery and tense love story challenges our assumptions about right and wrong, guilt and innocence, truth and lies.

I am a huge fan of novels with unreliable narrators. I went in expecting How To Disappear to feature one such character. Nicolette loosely fits that descriptor, but it was the other elements to this mystery that caught my attention.

It is hard to review a mystery novel. You cannot really discuss what makes it so engaging without giving away plot points that should be discovered by the reader. This is true of How To Disappear. It is the type of book that is made enjoyable by following the story as it progresses and discovering the secrets of both the characters and novel itself.

There is a tension that is taunt almost from the moment you start reading. The opening pages are designed to grab you and keep you hooked. It works and works incredibly well. This is a fast paced read that has its 400+ page count flying by. Everything is timed and spaced evenly so that the beginning, middle and end all feel equally compelling. It's hard to do in a mystery novel while making the mystery last and Anne Redisch Stampler has pulled it off wonderfully here.

This is a fun book to read, as odd as the subject matter may make that sound. There is something addictive about not only the mystery but the writing style. The addition of crime family elements, blackmail, secrets, lies and murder only serve to increase the reader's consuming need to finish the story to get to the truth. A mystery should be the definition of a page turner and this one was. The reader will want to unravel every last secret of this plot.

Nicolette and Jack are combustible together. There is this instant attraction that feels purely sexual at first. The author allows smaller moments for us to see walls coming down and a real connection being made, but the sparks that fly at first are purely physical. The secrets between them, and the fact that they are very much the product of their parentage, creates a tension between them that definitely makes this a potentially dangerous relationship. While they are not spies there was something very Mr and Mrs Smith about their relationship and that worked for the story being told.

The ending, for me, was a little hit and miss. I appreciated the direction the ending took us in and the light it shined on the previous events, but I don't know if it felt like the ending to this story. It was the only element that, for me, felt a little disjointed even as I enjoyed the story on the whole.

A fast paced, twisty murder mystery that boasts a ton of sexually charged chemistry. If you're in need of a book for the beach this summer and don't want your standard contemporary romance, this will certainly satisfy. 

Afterparty by Ann Redisch Stampler

Afterparty by Ann Redisch Stampler
Release Date – December 31, 2013
Publisher Website –  Simon and Schuster
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages -  384 pages
My Rating- 4/5
**received from publisher for an honest review**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

Emma is tired of being good. Always the dutiful daughter to an overprotective father, she is the antithesis of her mother -- whose name her dad won't even say out loud. That's why meeting Siobhan is the best thing that ever happened to her...and the most dangerous. Because Siobhan is fun and alluring and experienced and lives on the edge. In other words, she's everything Emma is not.

And it may be more than Emma can handle.

Because as intoxicating as her secret life may be, when Emma begins to make her own decisions, Siobhan starts to unravel. It's more than just Dylan, the boy who comes between them. Their high-stakes pacts are spinning out of control. Elaborate lies become second nature. Loyalties and boundaries are blurred. And it all comes to a head at the infamous Afterparty, where debauchery rages and an intense, inescapable confrontation ends in a plummet from the rooftop...

This explosive, sexy, and harrowing follow-up to Ann Redisch Stampler's spectacular teen debut, Where It Began, reveals how those who know us best can hurt us most.

There is this little cult classic movie called Poison Ivy. It stars Drew Barrymore as a bad girl who lives up to the name, and Sara Gilbert as a sheltered, lonely outcast who gets in over her head when her and 'Ivy' become friends. Afterparty immediately filled me with nostalgia for this movie, because of the similar feelings in invokes. It's dangerous, sexy, and has a twisted female friendship at it's core. I knew I was going to enjoy this one as this began to unravel, and I wasn't disappointed.

The setting of the novel, Los Angeles, could not be more perfect for this story. It's sexy; all glitz and glamour. There is also an undercurrent filled with drugs, parties, and danger. It's the perfect mix of balmy nights and beach filled days that provides a pitch perfect backdrop for this story.

The tension in this novel is kept tight throughout. The build up to the 'Afterparty' is thrust into the spotlight in the very opening passages of the novel. We are told to expect something, and the countdown is torture. As things spiral out of control, the tension increases until it finally pops. It's effective, and engrossing.

There are a few fun twists, one of which made me gasp out loud. I was delighted that the ground work had been laid and I didn't put the pieces together until it was revealed. It's rare that it happens, and this one certainly took me by surprise. The way the story is told is fun, and thrilling because you're on edge the entire time, waiting for the next bomb to drop.

There is so much going on in this novel that will resonate with teens. It's like a heightened version of scenarios that are all too familiar. We have the classic struggle between family and friends. Emma is the 'good girl'. Her father pushes her to remain that way. She feels pressure and struggles with the side of her that wants freedom. Her father is over-the-top strict. He has his reasons (which added to the story) but Emma just wants to be a teenager. She wants to mess up, make mistakes. Her father just doesn't want those mistakes to be ones she can't take back, and so he is over cautious. This leaves Emma open to temptation, and Siobhan can tempt. This struggle of push/pull between parents and friends is a defining part of your teen years, as is finding that middle ground that is all you. Emma walks this line, and we see her begin to define herself.

The friendship between Emma and Siobhan is the definition of twisted. Siobhan pushes Emma, and at first it's thrilling and exciting. Things quickly spiral out of control though. We are left in the dark mostly about Siobhan's motivations. It's unclear how much she's lying, and what is the truth. This is Emma's story, and while I would have loved to know more about Siobhan, it's right that she remains just out of reach. It adds to her allure, and her danger.

My only minor issue is that after a stellar opening and set up the end doesn't deliver as big a punch as the rest of the novel. It tapers out a little. There are some deliciously wicked moments latter half of the novel that do stand out, it just doesn't feel as powerful as the very strong first half. The way that things are left ambiguous in the climax of the novel was a great touch. The fact that not everything is wrapped up felt authentic.

A story of getting lost while finding yourself, defining yourself, and learning that sometimes the only person you can save is yourself. Afterparty is sexy, tension filled read that had me turning the pages to see where this roller coaster would go next.