What Janie Found

This is the final book of four telling the story of Janie Johnson who discovered that she was the victim of a kidnapping by finding a picture of herself on a milk carton. What Janie Found finishes the series nicely and manages to tie up most of the loose ends.

As Janie discovers a lead to her kidnapper, Hannah, her trust in her adoptive father is shattered as she learns that he may very well have known her whereabouts all along. As he has suffered a massive stroke and is unable to discuss this with her, she decides to confront Hannah and get some answers. With the help of two of her real brothers and her ex-boyfriend Reeve, she is finally able to see the bigger picture and learn that this situation involves more people than just herself. show more Janie gets the closure she needs, and is able to take the first steps toward healing herself and her two families.

I thought the author, Caroline B. Cooney has done an excellent job with this YA story. A simple premise but with oh so many complications, she has shown over these four books all the anger, mistrust, anguish, love, acceptance and healing that these families and friends have had to go through. A difficult situation to resolve, but we are left with the feeling that Janie and her family will be ok. show less

I was thoroughly disappointed with the "conclusion" to the "quartet." It began slowly, muddled through the middle, and then ended exactly as thing happened throughout the rest of the story. Cooney could have picked almost any point in the book to end it and the effect would have been the same.
Stephen is one of the worst, most obnoxious, least sympathetic characters I have ever met...until we meet his girlfriend. Even worse than that, is Cooney tries her damnedest (through Janie) to try and rationalize their behavior and apologize for it.
Even though I felt very betrayed by the lack of an ending in this book, I'm not entirely certain I'll be seeking out the additional ending to the series anytime soon (obviously I'm not the only one who show more despised the ending if Cooney felt the need to tack on an extra book after the end of the quartet). show less

This is the fourth and last in Cooney's Janie series. Janie discovers that her father had been sending money to the woman who kidnapped her. She has to deal with her anger at his deception while at the same time cope with her grief and fear because he has suffered a heart attack and stroke and may not survive. She decides to set out to meet the woman who kidnapped her and find out the answers to her many questions about her kidnapping.

Cooney has a gift for capturing adolescence: the conflicting (and conflicted) emotions, the silliness with friends, the realization that even with the best intention one's actions can seriously impact other people. Unfortunately, this fourth novel is probably the weakest of the three I've read. At the show more best of times Cooney jumps from situation to flashback to an entirely different situation with little exposition. The first half of this novel seemed very disjointed. Fortunately, the second half comes together as Janie decides whether to meet her kidnapper. show less

It's pretty awful, really, but good for young teens. Takes a long time to get where it's going and had a pretty unsatisfactory ending, but kind of fun to read like a bad movie - you can't stop watching it because it's so bad.

Janie has found evidence that Hannah (her kidnapper from 13ish years ago, and daughter of Janie's not-real parents who raised her under false pretenses, is receiving money from her not-real father four times a year. However, Janie's parents have both sword before law-enforcement officials on many occasions that they have no knowledge of Hannah's whereabouts. They have decided to let her stay lost so as not to dig up their painful past yet again. Armed with her new information, Janie convinces her real brother from her biological family and her ex-boyfriend to go with her to Boulder Colorado and visit Janie's other biological brother in college, under false pretenses. Because Boulder, Colorado is also where Janie's not-real father sends show more those checks... show less

{my thoughts} - This book summed up the entire series in a sense. I wasn’t pleased with the different point of views in which it had been written. It had switched from Janie, Reeve and Brian throughout the book which was more then annoying in my honest opinion. I was actually rather surprised at what she had found but even more surprised that she and Reeve had gotten back together after the last book. I also couldn’t believe how well both families were getting along that they allowed their non-kidnapped children the right to spend as much time as they wanted at the Johnson’s house. If I were the Springs I would never be able to allow the kidnappers by proxy anywhere’s near the children I had been able to raise. It just seems show more wrong to me and there Brian was spending the whole summer at the Johnson’s I don’t get how the Spring’s went from overprotective to just about not caring at all. But it is a book and it looks like it was meant to end happily ever after and sometimes happily ever afters are far to forced for them to make any real sense.

{reason for reading} - I wanted to complete the series. It wasn’t as good as the other books but was worth getting to know the conclusion of the storyline. show less

Janie Johnson recognized herself on the back of a milk carton. Soon she learned she was a victim of kidnapping, but the people raising her were not her kidnappers. They sincerely believed she was their granddaughter when their estranged daughter had brought her to them until they, with Janie, learned the truth. Janie knows her biological family, but continues to live with the parents who raised her. When her adoptive father suffers a stroke, Janie helps her adoptive mother and finds some devastating information. Her adoptive father has been supporting her kidnapper all along. Janie concocts an plan to confront her kidnapper while on a college visit with her biological brother and an ex-boyfriend. This is the fourth book in the Janie show more Johnson series, which began in 1990. Despite its age, the series still has fans. Like in other books, Cooney creates emotional tension and suspense that keeps readers going. However, this offering seems to lack substance in a way the other novels do not. Still, collections that serve fans of the series are going to need this one. show less