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The Next Time You See Me    by Holly Goddard Jones Amazon.com order for
Next Time You See Me
by Holly Goddard Jones
Order:  USA  Can
Touchstone, 2013 (2013)
Hardcover, CD, e-Book
* * *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

The Next Time You See Me is Holly Goddard Jones' debut as an author. But there is nothing about this new work that screams first novel. It is tightly written, with enough suspense to keep you really concerned about the characters involved and the thread that ties them together.

We meet thirteen year old Emily, who is a misfit if there ever was one, poor kid. She finds a body purely by chance but decides to keep her discovery to herself. She needs something that is just hers, that she doesn't have to share with her handicapped brother.

Then there is Susanna, a dutiful housewife and mother. Life isn't too bad but she feels something is missing. She just didn't expect it to be her sister Ronnie, the girl about town who lives a questionable existence. Her husband isn't much help in finding the missing woman.

Enter Tony Joyce who is a detective in town with whom Susanna nearly had a past. Inject into the plot fifty-five year-old Wyatt Powell, a factory worker and butt of jokes at the plant.

Not one of them has any real connection to the other except the sisters, but their fates diverge. One happening leads to another. Bullying causes a string of events that affect each of these players in such a way that their lives are changed forever.

Jones has won many awards with her short stories and teaches creative writing at UNC Greensboro. Her first novel, The Next Time You See Me, is surely another winner.

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