Now You See Her

Image of Now You See Her
Author(s): 
Release Date: 
June 26, 2018
Publisher/Imprint: 
Katherine Tegen Books
Pages: 
320
Reviewed by: 

“This spine-chilling thriller is fast paced and intense. James Patterson’s penchant for short chapters adds to the jittery energy of the text, keeping the reader on tenterhooks, hooking us from page one until the shocking conclusion.”

Attorney Nina Bloom has it all: burgeoning New York City career and a teenage daughter she adores. But what price did she have to pay to attain her fulfilling life?

Transported back almost two decades, the reader finds Nina, otherwise identified as Jeanine Baker, a college senior just months away from graduation, on spring break in Key West, Florida. Jeanine, her boyfriend Alex, best friend Maureen, Maureen’s boyfriend Mike, and another friend, Cathy—all plan to make the most of their last vacation as students and adhere to the mantra “party till you drop!”

The night before they are due to leave, they get sloshed on Jell-O shots, and hours later Jeanine wakes up in her hotel room and discovers Maureen and Alex getting it on in the bathroom. Hurt and angry, she slips out unnoticed, steals Alex’s Z28 Camaro, and heads for the highway. Still drunk and furious, she opens the engine wide and flies down a somewhat deserted road. A dog darts into the street, making Jeanine slam on the breaks, fishtailing to avoid the animal, only to crash into an aged hippie. Jeanine sobers quickly, realizing the life she once had is over.

Enters Peter Fournier, a Key West cop who pulls her over, ready to arrest her. He informs Jeanine that the victim is dead and mentions the man is a lowlife drug dealer. He decides not to arrest her, but concocts a plan to dump the man’s body and return Alex’s car so no one will be the wiser.

Vulnerable and terrified, Jeanine agrees to his suggestion, and after the deed is done, she never returns to school or her old life. She and her “savior” Peter marry and settle into a life that appears blissful—until a series of events cause Jeanine to question her handsome husband. Learning (more) about Peter’s true character, she ends up plotting her escape by letting everyone believe she is a victim of the Jump Killer, the notorious serial murderer who has been abducting young women in the area and hiding their bodies, never be found.

Fleeing to New York City, Jeanine changes her name to Nina Bloom and works hard to make a new life. Though successful as an attorney, she is never without fear of someday being discovered by Peter.

When Nina is assigned to work on a hopeless case, discovering that it is that of the Jump Killer who was finally apprehended and is due to be executed, realizes she realizes she must prevent his execution. The man charged with these crimes is innocent—and Nina knows who the real killer is. So she heads back to Key West—a place she hoped never to see again.

This spine-chilling thriller is fast paced and intense. James Patterson’s penchant for short chapters adds to the jittery energy of the text, keeping the reader on tenterhooks, hooking us from page one until the shocking conclusion.