Sweet Valley High #13: Kidnapped!

This is another one of those books where I can't believe I haven't yet reviewed it!

So Jessica has her sights set on Nicholas Morrow. Even though he's new in town and she hasn't yet met him, she heard he's hot and rich, which is all that really matters. Unfortunately, she promised Elizabeth that they would go to a party at his house together. Her twin has to work at the hospital and then tutor Max Dellon in English.

After putting on her dress, painting her nails, and whining to Steven, she still has like an hour left. Since she absolutely cannot wait any longer, she calls Cara and asks for a ride. Jess takes off, leaving a note for Liz on the kitchen table and an ugly outfit out for her on her bed.

She and Cara meet Regina and Nicholas's mom and dad and then meet Regina. Jessica thinks the other girl is ignoring her because she keeps looking at and talking to Cara before Regina reveals that she's deaf. Not quite sure how Jessica learned everything about the family and not that but whatevs.

When Todd shows up, he instantly starts worrying about Elizabeth and why she isn't there. Jessica lies and says Liz promised to sit for Mr. Collins. Though Todd is initially cool with it, he later calls and finds out she isn't there. He comes back, tosses Jess in the swimming pool, and demands the truth. Jessica has been so concerned with flirting with Nicholas that she didn't realize how much time passed.

Ned and Alice get home from a dinner with some random client. She finds the note Jess left for Liz and freaks out, but Ned tries to calm her down. Then, Jessica calls from the party to ask about her twin and they realize something is wrong. Jess and Todd plan to come home and drive up and down the streets in case the Fiat broke down.

Max is worried about Liz too. Since he's in danger of failing English, Mr. Collins asked Liz to tutor him and his dad made him quit playing in The Droids. When she doesn't show up for their tutoring session, he goes to the hospital to look for her. While checking out her car, the cops show up. Apparently, the same cop accused him of robbing a convenience store and accuses him of hurting Liz before carting him off to jail.

Since the title of this book is Kidnapped, we should get to the kidnapping part. Liz wakes up tied to a chair in some random house. She vaguely remembers getting to her car, smelling something weird, and then passing out. Eventually, someone removes her blindfold and she sees Carl, this weird orderly from the hospital, standing in front of her. He rambles a little about how much he cares about her and how he can't let her go.

Ned and Alice call the hospital and Max before finally calling the police. Jessica blames herself and refuses to eat or change her clothing until her mom makes her. She and Todd keep trying to look for her twin and spend most of the book freaking out. Nicholas comes over and talks with her, which makes her feel a little better, but she still blames herself. They also spend some time blaming Max even though the police released him for lack of evidence.

Carl keeps Elizabeth tied up to a chair until she convinces him that he can trust her. As soon as he unties her, she runs across the room and gets through one door only to find a screened in porch with another locked door. Though he keeps her tied up, he brings home food and books with her, but since he can't read, he chooses three random books. He also makes her pancakes, brings her home a sweater, and makes plans to run away with her to a cabin in the woods.

Jessica and Todd eventually go to the hospital to look for Liz. Carl sees Jessica, thinks she's Liz, and freaks out. He starts talking about their plans, so she pretends to be her sister. He reveals his whole plan as they wait for the police to show up. They then go to his house, find Liz, and bring her home.

Since Liz was "kidnapped" for two whole days or something, she immediately decides to throw a party. Nothing says welcome home from a horrible experience like a party. Nicholas shows up, sees Liz, and gets stars in his eyes. The book ends with her worrying about how her twin will feel given that he never looks at Jess the same way.

*This is the infamous book where Liz gets kidnapped by a guy who pretty much just wants to feed her pancakes and hold her hand.

*If Carl is as creepy as everyone says, how is he not a suspect? The cops never even talk to him. If this happened today, he'd be brought in right away.

*Everyone in SVH assumes that Max had something to do with Liz disappearing, which is actually fairly realistic.

*Carl brings her a book on investing, a book of fairy tales, and some other random book.

*Liz thinks he screwed up when he brings her a sweater until he tells her he went to a shop where no one knows him. I guess he isn't completely dumb.

*Steven is supposedly still hurting over Tricia's death, but he can still crack jokes with Jessica and go out with his friends.

*Steven is worried about the outfit that Jess wears to the party, which he describes as having a neckline as low as a sixteen year old girl can get away with. It creeps me out that her own brother would say that.