They Never Came Back

By Caroline B. Cooney

Book Overview

In a busy school cafeteria, a teenage girl is confronted by a classmate who questions her identity. He explains to the students who have crowded around that the girl bears an uncanny resemblance to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385738080
• ISBN13: 9780385738088
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 0.8" x 5.9"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

An interesting book!

"They Never Came Back" starts off immediately about Cathy Ferris, a foster child who is taking Latin classes over the summer. She has a group of friends and happily goes to take classes every day when a boy named Tommy questions her identity. He says that she has a striking resemblance to his cousin - who went missing five years ago when her parents escaped the country after conning many people out of their money. This novel was recommended to me by a friend, and I have to say that their taste in books is very precise. I enjoyed it thoroughly as slowly, each piece of the plot fits snugly into place. It was interesting, and, although not very action-packed, it was able to keep me attached to the words until I finished it. I would tell anyone who is interested in reading, no matter what genre, to try and read this!

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

THEY NEVER CAME BACK by Caroline B. Cooney is a great thriller for middle grade readers. There are just enough twists and turns in the plot to keep readers focused, and it offers a few thought-provoking questions to make readers consider just exactly what they would do in the same circumstances. Chapter one is about Cathy. She is enrolled in a special accelerated summer school. The program squeezes one full year of Latin into a summer course. Her focus is Latin morning, noon, and night. One afternoon in the cafeteria, Cathy is shocked when a boy named Tommy approaches her table and calls her Murielle. He even drops to his knees before her as he insists she is his long-lost cousin. He claims she was taken from his home five years ago by social services. Then he adds that she had been abandoned by her parents, who were guilty of stealing millions of dollars from business investors. Suddenly, Cathy is the center of attention. Chapter two begins with Murielle. Ten-year-old Murielle is a lucky girl. Her parents are in the financial investment business, and they are able to provide her with anything her heart desires. She is used to living in a fancy house, having pretty clothes, new things whenever she wants, and private lessons in just about anything she is interested in doing. Even though they are constantly working and leave her in the care of various babysitters and housekeepers, Murielle thinks her parents are terrific. One afternoon, Murielle is with her Aunt Lois headed toward the airport. The plan is that her aunt will be dropping her off to catch a flight with her father. They will be flying to England where they will meet up with her mother. Suddenly, Aunt Lois turns the car away from the airport and begins shouting about how she won't go through with the plans. Murielle has no idea what is going on except that she is not going to be going with her parents. At that point her life changes forever. Could Cathy and Murielle really be one and the same? Is Cathy, who lives with a struggling foster family, really the daughter of millionaire investors? It's been five years since their scandalous disappearance. Could they really have been more interested in money than in their adorable little Murielle? THEY NEVER CAME BACK is a fast-paced novel with a unique plot. Caroline B. Cooney's smooth flowing prose will keep readers on the edge of their seats as they follow the action to see just exactly who is who in this clever mystery. Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

An engrossing saga

Caroline B. Cooney's THEY NEVER CAME BACK provides an engrossing saga revolving around a girl in hiding who is discovered when she goes to a new school. When a student recognizes Cathy as a child who vanished years ago when her parents fled the country, identity, responsibility and issues of secrecy and history invade her life. Can she ever escape the shadow of her parents' actions?

They Never Came Back

The summer school students at Greenwich High get a lot more excitement than they bargained for when Cathy, a visiting student, is identified as being the missing daughter of Cade and Rory Lyman, a couple who fled the country five years before, after loosing thousands of family's life savings in a fraudulent investment scheme. //They Never Came Back// is told through the alternating perspectives of Cathy, who isn't ready to accept the past she's tried so hard to leave behind and of the 10-year-old Lyman daughter in the foggy, sickening days after her parents abandon her. As Cathy's classmates become increasingly involved in the mysterious circumstances, Cathy is forced to decide if she will protect the parents who abandoned her or if she will be the one to bring them to justice. Longtime-favorite young adult author Caroline B. Cooney has once again connected with teens in this clever page-turner that insightfully addresses the Wall Street indiscretions that are so often in the news today. Especially enjoyable in //They Never Came Back// is how Cooney has made the summer school students' prowess with texting, social media, and laptops a pivotal component of how the plot develops. Reviewed by Megan Just