What Janie Found (Laurel-Leaf Books) (The Face on the Milk Carton)

by Caroline B. Cooney

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Janie's Connecticut father has suffered a stroke/heart attack and Janie has been assigned to putting his office in order. Among the cabinet drawers she finds a thin file marked H.J. -- Hannah Javenson, Miranda and Frank Johnson's biological daughter, the woman who kidnapped Jennie Spring and set all this turmoil in motion. In this file Janie found a checkbook in which Frank has been mailing checks to his child for the last three years, postmarked to Colorado. Colorado, where her older brother Stephan goes to school, so under the pretext of visiting him she, Reeve and her younger brother Brian con their parents into "visiting him". They do visit Stephan, just with an ulterior motive.

At the end of The Voice on the Radio Reeve's lawyer sister Lizzie divulges that Hannah died five years ago. So really, I'd like to know who is receiving these checks. Anyway, why wouldn't Reeve just tell Janie this and save them all the trouble. I know why, because a) Janie wouldn't listen and b) because after his fuck up last year wanted to cozy into her good side again. Because of this I continued to hear Stupid, Stupid Stupid circulate in my head. Stephan, did have an annoying girlfriend who together with her retired FBI daddy couldn't get enough of the Janie sideshow. But this was the book's only redeeming factor. As cliche as it sounds, What Janie Found does wrap up all ends nicely with both families becoming one, but at the end of the day, I could have gone without this installment.