The Night She Disappeared

The Night She Disappeared is a young-adult thriller by American author April Henry. Published in 2012 by Henry Holt, The Night She Disappeared tells the story of Kayla Cutler, a high-school senior kidnapped while on a pizza delivery, and Gabie Klug, her coworker, who discovers that she was the perpetrator’s intended target. As Gabie races to uncover the truth before it’s too late, The Night She Disappeared tackles themes of class-based prejudice and the fallibility of authority figures while exploring the way teenage girls navigate a world in which they are seen as powerless. Henry puts a unique spin on a mystery novel through alternating narrative perspectives and inserts stylized to look like newspaper clippings, evidence reports, and more. The novel was nominated for the 2015 Missouri Gateway Readers Award.

This guide refers to the 2013 Walker Books print edition.

Content Warning: The source material discusses substance use and addiction, mental health, and death by suicide.

Plot Summary

High-school senior Gabriella “Gabie” Klug lives in Portland, Oregon. She works at Pete’s Pizza, making pizzas in the shop and running deliveries in her Mini Cooper. Gabie is a reserved girl who is largely overlooked by her peers. Her parents are both trauma surgeons who work busy schedules, so she spends a lot of time alone at home. Gabie works some shifts with Kayla Cutler, a popular and pretty classmate.

The novel opens on a Wednesday night as Andrew “Drew” Lyle, a fellow high-school student, answers the phone at Pete’s Pizza. The man on the other end is calling from a pay phone. He identifies himself as “John Robertson” and orders three pizzas to an unfamiliar address. He requests that the delivery girl with the Mini Cooper make the delivery. On that night, Gabie has switched her usual Wednesday shift with Kayla, so Kayla sets out to make the delivery instead. Several hours pass, and Kayla doesn’t return. Drew panics when Kayla doesn’t answer her phone and calls the police to report her disappearance.

Two teens stumble upon the Pete’s Pizza truck, which Kayla was driving, at a remote spot near the Willamette River. The keys are in the ignition and the door is open, leading the police to theorize that she was lured out of her car and abducted by someone she knew.

When Gabie learns about Kayla’s disappearance, she feels guilty because she was Robertson’s intended target. She informs the police, but they dismiss her. Investigators find the scene of a struggle and bloodstained rock near Kayla’s car. DNA testing confirms it’s Kayla’s blood. The owner of Pete’s Pizza subsequently bans his female employees from working alone and making deliveries. Gabie lends her Mini Cooper to Drew so he can take over her delivery duties.

The narrative perspective continually shifts between the central characters’ points of view. Chapters from Kayla’s perspective reveal that she is being held in a locked basement room by the man the reader knows as Robertson, a violent and unpredictable figure. Robertson intended to kidnap Gabie as part of a vague “project” he is working on. He laments his mistake in taking Kayla because her strong personality makes her hard to control. In the past, he abducted another girl for his project but murdered her when she proved unsuitable. He plans to do the same to Kayla.

Kayla’s disappearance ignites the local rumor mill, with most people believing that she has been murdered. Gabie is instinctually certain that Kayla is still alive. Her guilt drives her to take an obsessive interest in the case. She turns to Drew for comfort, and the two cultivate a close friendship, bonded by their shared survivors’ guilt. Gabie learns more about Drew’s life, including that he lives with a single mother who has a meth addiction. Gabie and Drew develop feelings for one another and share a first kiss, but Drew worries that Gabie’s parents won’t accept him as a worthy partner for their daughter because of his fraught family environment and his lack of concrete future plans.

Meanwhile, the police home in on their prime suspect, a local man named Cody Renfrew whose truck was seen near the site of the abduction on Wednesday night. Cody has recently relapsed into meth addiction and has a record of petty crime. Cody admits to being in the area on the night Kayla disappeared but swears he was not involved. The police detain Cody as Robertson continues to visit Pete’s Pizza, where Gabie recognizes him as a regular customer and engages in friendly banter with him. Robertson plans out how he will dispose of Kayla and replace her with Gabie.

Kayla’s mother brings Gabie and Drew in to speak with a psychic, but when the psychic implies that Kayla is dead, Gabie angrily stops the session. She still has a voice inside of her telling her Kayla is alive. Shortly afterward, Cody dies by suicide due to the stigma of being blamed for Kayla’s murder. The police close the case despite not having found Kayla’s body. Thayer warns Gabie to stop spreading the idea that Kayla is alive because it prevents her family from moving on.

Two weeks after Kayla’s abduction, Drew is returning from a delivery in the Mini Cooper when he is attacked by Robertson, who assumes Gabie is the driver. Robertson flees the scene, but Drew and Gabie tail him to his remote property, where they discover Kayla in his basement. They call the police but realize upon hearing the sound of a woman screaming that Robertson will kill Kayla within minutes. Drew and Gabie confront Robertson as he prepares to shoot Kayla. In the ensuing struggle, Drew gains possession of Robertson’s gun and shoots him, killing him instantly. The police arrive and take Drew, Gabie, and Kayla to the hospital. After recovering, they learn that Robertson’s real name was Ronald Hewett. Hewett was a regular at Pete’s and had planned Gabie’s kidnapping for months. Investigators discover the body of his first victim buried in his yard.

Months later, Drew and Gabie are both college-bound. They receive a medal of heroism from the Portland police for their bravery. Drew’s mother has gone to a rehab facility, and he’s emancipated from her care. Kayla’s and Gabie’s parents watch proudly from the audience.