Finding Paris

Gr 9 Up—Leo and Paris are sisters; very different personalities, fathered by different men, but bound together by their need for stability and support. Their mother, who has dragged them from town to town and man to man, now has them living with her latest acquisition, who seemed cool enough at first, but since moving to Las Vegas, has begun showing his true colors. Leo is fed up with their lifestyle, and is working hard to get into Stanford to study medicine. Paris, the artist, has no clearly defined plan beyond escaping her present circumstances. Late one night, Paris awakens Leo claiming that she's in need of pie and sympathy. At the diner, she dares Leo to talk to an attractive young man seated at a nearby table. Shortly after Leo accepts the dare, Paris disappears along with the car and Leo's cell phone. Max, amazingly accommodating for a stranger she's just met, offers Leo his help, and together they locate a cryptic, hastily written note from Paris containing an obscure clue and a plea for Leo to find her. What follows is a scavenger hunt in which notes bearing clues to various locations lead to more notes. In a dramatic climax, the steady, step-by-step progression of the plot takes a surprising turn and suddenly barrels forward, blindsiding readers with unexpected twists. An intricate guessing game of sisterly devotion, romance, and quiet desperation.—Cary Frostick, formerly at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA