From time to time, it feels like I just want a quick thriller to rip through. Of course, there’s certain things I cannot handle in a thriller (very young children in danger) but otherwise, am good to go with picking one up. The Girl In The White Van by April Henry is a young adult thriller about kidnapping. While it isn’t the best I’ve read, it certainly fit the bill for what I wanted. Plus it was a super fast read which made me glad to cycle it off my shelf kind of quickly.
The Girl In The White Van is about Savannah who is new in town. She doesn’t make friends very easily because she and her mom constantly move around as her mom meets new men and falls in love. This time, they are in Portland and staying with her mom’s boyfriend Tim. Savannah and Tim have a fight before Savannah’s kung fu class. Unfortunately, Savannah disappears after her class. It is assumed that she ran away because of her fight with Tim. The reality is that she was kidnapped. We then see Savannah try to survive and find a way free along with another girl who was kidnapped almost a year ago, Jenny. It’s going to take everything the two have to save themselves.
This book is told using a variety of viewpoints and very short chapters. I’ll admit, I liked the short chapters. It made progressing through this book really easy. I think too, that would make this book more appealing to emerging readers. The changing points of views kept The Girl In The White Van very fresh. I also liked how tough Savannah was and how she identified with Bruce Lee after reading through his biography. I found this to be an okay kind of read overall. Unfortunately, I did not really connect that much with any of the characters. I also just wanted more from this book. It seemed to resolve a little bit too quickly.
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