See Jane Run

by Hannah Jayne

YA Mystery/Thriller

Book Description

I know who you are.

When Riley first gets the postcard tucked into her bag, she thinks it’s a joke. Then she finds a birth certificate for a girl named Jane Elizabeth O’Leary hidden inside her baby book.

Riley’s parents have always been pretty overprotective. What if it wasn’t for her safety…but fear of her finding out their secret? What have they been hiding? The more Riley digs for answers, the more questions she has.

The only way to know the truth? Find out what happened to Jane O’Leary.

MY THOUGHTS: 3 OUT OF 5 FLEURS DE LIS

See Jane Run by Hannah Jayne

This novel started off interestingly enough. High school senior Riley finds a birth certificate in her baby book that has a different birthdate than hers, and the name Jane O’Leary on it. Her mind immediately starts going through the options: was this a sister she had? Or is it her, was she kidnapped? She can’t just come out and ask her parents about the certificate: they are overprotective to say the least, and Riley wasn’t supposed to be going through their stuff anyway. So she starts to do some research on her own–but when she starts having scary run-ins with creepy guys, she wonders if she should abandon her search for the truth and leave her life alone the way it is.

I guess I liked the book well enough, but I had some problems with the pacing and believability of some things. I also guessed the truth behind the birth certificate well before it was revealed. Maybe this is because I’m an older reader; the intended teen audience might not be able to figure out the twist so soon.

At first I couldn’t understand WHY Riley just didn’t ask her parents about things, but as the book went on and I saw the way they babied her it became clear–they would have put her on immediate lockdown and she would probably have lived the rest of her life without ever knowing the truth. She really had no choice but to try to find out on her own.

I liked Riley’s relationship with her best friend, Shelby. Shelby is outgoing and in your face, basically the polar opposite of Riley. As a result, Shelby pushes Riley to do things she might not have though of on her own. But Riley ends up sharing most of the journey with JD, a guy from school she really didn’t know that much about–other than the fact that people tease that his initials stand for “Juvenile Delinquent”. I thought the book might have been better with Riley and Shelby doing research together–at times the relationship between Riley and JD felt a bit forced.

I really got into the last couple of chapters of the book. They had a creepy feel and Riley really had to dig in and give it her everything to get out of her situation. I did like the way things ended, though they felt very abrupt compared to the way the rest of the book played out–thus some of the pacing problems I mentioned earlier.

Teen readers will like this book, I believe, and will devour it quickly to find out the truth about Riley and Jane.

View all my reviews

About the Author

Hannah is the author of the UNDERWORLD DETECTION AGENCY CHRONICLES from Kensington books and the upcoming young adult thrillers TRULY, MADLY, DEADLY and SEE JANE RUN available from Sourcebooks, Inc. When she’s not battling the demons of the Underworld or tackling a murderer at Hawthorne High, Jayne kicks her feet up in her San Francisco bay area home and attempts to share couch space with two enormous cats.

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