Caroline B. Cooney's Janie books ranked

One of my first experiences with a book that imitated true crime was The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney. My school library had a book about a girl who finds her picture on a missing child notice and I was drawn into the mystery. I re-read the entire series recently and have ranked the installments according to personal preference. Spoilers are ahead, but the series is still worth reading.

But first, an introduction. In The Face on the Milk Carton, Janie Johnson looks at a picture of a little girl in a polka dot dress and vividly remembers being that child. She struggles to decide if her parents are criminals or if she has nothing to do with Jennie Spring who disappeared from New Jersey. It eventually comes out that the people who raised her are her grandparents and their daughter, Hannah, kidnapped Jennie at a shopping mall and presented Jennie as her own child. When Janie/Jennie contacts the family who never gave up on finding her, she is legally required to return to them. The rest of the series covers her journey of coming to terms with her past and how she becomes a real part of both families.

Now that we're all on the same page, let's review from least favorite to most.

5. The Voice on the Radio

Janie has discovered the truth of her abduction and tried to reinvent herself by returning to the Spring family. After giving it an earnest try, she returns to the people who raised her. Things are very emotionally complicated for all of them.

Enter the person who gets his fifteen minutes of fame based on how complicated the situation became. Reeve, Janie's boyfriend, wants to host a college radio show and is encouraged to tell a story. What he does is serialize the history of the woman he supposedly loves. He gets a huge following. Professors and fellow students want to know when he's going to release his next "Janie."

The book includes a caller who claims to be Hannah, the kidnapper, and an intense period where Janie discovers that her boyfriend has been exploiting her story for fame and refuses to speak to him. It ends with reconciliation between the star-crossed lovers, but that feels like it was not earned.

4. Janie Face to Face

It's hard to find that the culmination of a series is one of its weaker installments, but there is a reason for this. There are many loose ends to tie up. We have the mystery of what happened to Hannah, who was falsely reported as missing. We have the love story of Janie and Reeve. Amid it all, a true crime novelist is trying to tell Janie's story through several intermediaries.

It's somewhat satisfying to see Janie and Reeve tie the knot in a wildly-impulsive move. Cooney does a great job of communicating why everyone but the couple has some justifiable reservations. Reeve is also a bit of a rebound since he proposes one weekend after Janie's boyfriend was outed as a lying manipulator working for an author she had refused.

The problem at the heart of this is Hannah's story. The book chronicles her journey from deciding to kidnap someone else's daughter to deciding that she wants to exact revenge on the girl who had the good life denied to Hannah. And then Hannah's motivations change very suddenly and instead of attempting to murder the bride at the wedding, she ransacks the father-of-the-bride's room until the FBI comes to arrest her. It's just a turn for the worse in a decent thriller plot.

3. Whatever Happened to Janie

At the end of the book that started it all, Janie calls her birth family and identifies herself as the child they've missed for over a decade. As the second book opens, Janie is living in New Jersey with a family that is a group of strangers to her. She is expected to go by a new name, attend a high school where everyone knows her tragic backstory, and build a relationship with siblings who resented the way she held their family back.

The best parts of this book deal with the sibling relationship. Jodie and Stephen, the two siblings who have memories of their kidnapped sister, have their world upended just as much as Janie, and the tensions at play are very well done. Janie balks at the restrictions of people she feels no connection to and has anxiety over how her new life will play out.

2. What Janie Found

The strength of this book is in the number of twists and turns. All of the books involving Janie Johnson have an element of surprise, but it was a genuine shock to read that the kidnapper is still alive and her whereabouts are known.

Following the disabling stroke suffered by the father who raised her, Janie discovers a file in his personal papers marked with Hannah's initials. It turns out that he father has been sending money monthly to a PO Box owned by his long-lost daughter. After a lot of emotional work, Janie mails one final payment to the woman who pretended to be her mother and cuts all ties between her family and that of the criminal who abducted her.

This move is impressive narratively, since Janie has searched for so many answers, but decides to settle for the life she is now leading. This is really Janie coming into her own.

1. The Face on the Milk Carton

Nothing can truly beat the suspense of the first novel. Cooney's characters are quirky and unusual and that makes the way that they are reinvented more impactful. Janie's mother is always trying to find a hobby for them to share. Her father is involved in youth sports and the family. cheers his teams on.

Of course, it's a blow when Janie not only recognizes the dress of a missing child in her own memories but finds the dress hidden in her attic. There is high emotional tension when she decides to drive to New Jersey and face a family she doesn't remember knowing.

Most effective is the point at which Janie has to confront her parents about how she came to live in their home. We have seen the character's reservations and finally appreciate her bravery.

The entire series can be found on Amazon.