Review: "Kidnapped!" by Kate William (created by Francine Pascal)

Kidnapped! by Kate William (created by Francine Pascal)
Published 1984
★★

One minute Elizabeth is leaving her volunteer shift at the hospital...and then next she's waking up a prisoner. She's been kidnapped!

I'm not sure if I read this one back in the day, and I'm honestly not sure why I read it now. It's perhaps worth noting that this is only book 13 in a series that ultimately had 140+ books, and already Jessica has run off with any number of Bad Boys, Elizabeth has been in a coma following a motorcycle accident, and a recurring secondary character has been diagnosed with leukemia. I don't think the publisher had heard of pacing themselves...or maybe they just knew from the beginning that this was going to be an absolute soap opera. (I'm still thinking about rereading the miniseries, somewhere deep in the later books, in which an evil lookalike decides to kill Elizabeth and take over her life...)

For all that the book is ostensibly about Elizabeth's kidnap, it's still Jessica who gets...well, if not top billing, prime screentime. It's been fascinating to me to see how aware the writers were of Jessica's...Jessica-ness...even early on in the series. Here's Todd, Elizabeth's boyfriend, thinking about Jessica: While he wouldn't put it past Jessica to engage in a bout of feeling sorry for herself in an attempt to get pity, he wanted to believe she was sincere this time. The only person or thing Jessica truly couldn't live without was her twin, and Todd knew she would fall to pieces if something were to happen to Elizabeth. (42)

Jessica doesn't even like Elizabeth, let alone respect her, half the time, so this feels telling, if not surprising. Later in the book, a boy Jessica has the hots for expresses interest in Elizabeth: There was no way Elizabeth could mistake the look she saw in his eyes, a look that said, "You're the one I want." It made her feel awkward and uncomfortable. She had a strong suspicion that Nicholas hadn't reacted this way with Jessica. And she dreaded what would happen when Jessica found out. (92) And that's it in a nutshell, isn't it? Elizabeth is the only one Jessica really loves...but the limitations run deep. After all, what Jessica wants, Jessica gets...

I originally gave this three stars, but it's not actually better than the first book, just marginally less chaotic.