Accomplice

by Eireann Corrigan

Overview

Would you fake your own kidnapping to get into a good school?Finn and Chloe have it all figured out. Their school guidance counselor has told everyone that it's not enough to get good grades or do community service anymore - kids like that are everywhere, and colleges are bored of them. So what do you do? Chloe decides they should get attention another way. She and Finn will stage her own disappearance - and then Finn will be the only who finds and saves her. What college wouldn't want them after that kind of attention? It seems like a good plan -- until things start going very wrong.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545282949
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/01/2010
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Lexile:	750L (what's this?)
File size:	343 KB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Eireann Corrigan is the author of the poetry memoir You Remind Me of You, and the novels Splintering, Ordinary Ghosts, The Believing Game, Creep, and Accomplice, which Publishers Weekly called "haunting and provocative" in a starred review. She lives in New Jersey.

Editorial Reviews

Corrigan delivers an addictive cautionary tale in this twisted unraveling of mean girl machinations. The surprisingly likable (if tragically duped) narrator, junior Finn Jacobs, acerbically reveals the inside story on how she and her best friend Chloe fake Chloe's disappearance, hiding her in Finn's grandmother's basement for 11 long days. "It started as a joke. A sick joke really, the kind that Chloe and I could only tell each other because anyone else would think we were terrible people." The goal of this deranged plot is to make both of them stand out in competitive college admissions; however, readers will suspect before Finn the extent of Chloe's ambitions. Tension mounts as Finn finds it easier to lie and simultaneously becomes isolated by her secrets, especially as the facade of her friendship with Chloe cracks. As Finn realizes the consequences of her role, Corrigan (Ordinary Ghosts) balances her guilt and remorse with realizations about the underlying power dynamic of the girls' relationship. This commentary on the fictions underlying celebrity culture and the cruelty and bravery of this memorable heroine are both haunting and provocative. Ages 12–up. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"A dark page-turner with a satisfying resolution." - Kirkus

"Corrigan has crafted a complex, heart-wrenchingly plausible YA thriller. Peopled with multifaceted teen and adult characters, the story flows from secrets to lies, from a few harsh words to terrible accusations, and from supreme innocence to soul-sucking guilt. A fascinating character study of individuals and an entire town, this tension-filled story will entice readers." - Booklist

From the Publisher

Gr 8 Up—Looking for a way to differentiate themselves from all the other great students applying to prestigious universities, Finn and Chloe fake the latter's disappearance in order to attract attention. Chloe conceived this plan after following the media frenzy over an abducted teen's return to her family, sure that the now-famous Margaret Cook will be accepted to any college. Though plagued with doubts, Finn keeps a straight face while lying to everyone, occasionally sneaking out to check on Chloe, who is hiding in her vacationing grandmother's basement. Despite having discussed every extenuating circumstance imaginable, the girls are stunned when police arrest Chloe's friend Dean for her murder, a crime only they know he did not commit. They stage her return from her "kidnapping" with surprisingly few complications, but things are never the same between the two best friends. Describing events from Finn's first-person perspective, Corrigan paints a complex portrait both of a family in grief and the emotions involved in deception. She deftly captures the way one mistake can lead to others, snowballing into a situation that seems insurmountable. Unfortunately, the story's premise is a bit hard to swallow. With modern society offering so many other routes to becoming a celebrity, it's hard to believe the teens would take this one. Readers who can get past that will find this well-paced, mature, psychological tale is impossible to put down.—Jennifer Barnes, formerly at Homewood Library, IL

School Library Journal

In the tradition of YA suspense master Gail Giles, Corrigan creates a tense, bare-bones thriller that both provides a nerve-wracking ride and reveals its central characters' greed, selfishness and capacity for evil. When the story opens, city-born golden girl Chloe Caffrey has disappeared, putting the New Jersey farm town of Colt River and, soon, national TV audiences into a panic. Only narrator Finn, Chloe's best friend, knows the truth: Chloe's disappearance is a hoax. In 11 days, Finn will "discover" Chloe in the woods, and the two girls hope the fame they achieve will secure them places at the nation's most selective colleges. Though college admission seems less than compelling as a motive for such a destructive scheme, the tension is real and unrelenting. Chloe's calculating indifference is a perfect, chillling foil to Finn's mounting distress as both girls' families react, guidance counselors and fellow students pry and a shy boy from school is taken into police custody as a suspect. A dark page-turner with a satisfying resolution. (Suspense. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews