Vanishing Act: Mystery at the U. S. Open

Great Follow Up After Last Shot

I read this book because I had already read the first book of this series, Last Shot, and I loved it. When I realized the second book was about tennis it was a bit of a turn off because I am not a big tennis fanatic or anything unlike Last Shot, which was a book about basketball, which is one of my favorite sports. I gave the book a chance, and it turned out a heck of a lot better than I thought it would be. It had a lot of action and excitement. There are times in the book that I did think it just kind of rambled on through the story, but overall something exciting was always going on. In the end of the book something totally unexpected happens as Stevie and Susan Carol find out the truth on the kidnapping over the young Russian tennis star Nadia Symanova (not Natilia Makarova, which is what it says on the summary of the book on this website). This book is a great read following up Last Shot and continuing on Stevie and Susan Carol's journey.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Spoiler

Uncle Brendan did it.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great

Good for learning

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

funn summer readd

i had to read this book for summer reading and i just finished it in a day. it was really good. i enjoyed it a lot more than some of my other summer reading books over the years. it had a lot of informational tennis stuff and had good relationships between characters. it was also a thrilling mystery that held your attention until the last page. i recommend it to those in 5th grade to 7th grade.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good Book

This was a great read that i really enjoyed. Another class act book by feinstien. Great buy.

The Vanishing Act

I read The Vanishing Act and i really enjoyed it. I had a hard time putting the book down because it was so interesting. The were so many searches, clues, and mysteries I always wanted to find out what was going to happen next. I really enjoyed reading John Feinstein's books. The first book I read was The Last Shot. I really got into it. After i finished it I wanted to read more! Thats when I decided to buy The Vanishing Act. After reading The Vanishing Act I read The Change-Up. I finished that a couple of weeks ago. Now, I am reading The Cover-Up. I love John Feinstein's books and really hope he writes more. I would recommend John Feinstein's book to many people. Mostly people who enjoy mysteries. I have passed on the books I have read onto my friends and they are now reading and enjoying his books as well.

A reviewer

How do you kidnap someone against their will in front of thousands of witnesses? That¿s what Stevie was wondering when the next big star in tennis, Nadia Symanova, disappears o the way to her first-round match in the U.S. Open. Apparently her bodyguards were jostled and lost her in a crowd. After the kidnapping, Stevie saw Mr. Norwood, Symanova¿s agent and her father talking to a movie director in a club. Then when Stevie and his friend, Susan Carol, disguised themselves as players siblings and met Mr. and Mrs. Symanova and Mr. Norwood, Mr. Symanova and Mr. Norwood were both much too calm and seemed like they were keeping something from the mother, who was crying hysterically. Two days later, Symanova returned, apparently released without a scratch. All of this including the fact that the Symanova¿s and Mr. Norwood were trying to pin the whole thing on the SVR 'the Russian CIA' led Stevie to believe the entire thing was fake. Later, it turned out that Nadia had been kept in an office belonging to SMG, the agency Norwood worked for, the whole time. The characters are very interesting. Stevie Thomas is a 13-year-old future sportswriter from Philadelphia. He and Susan Carol met when they both won tickets and press credentials in a writing contest to the Final Four basketball game. Susan Carol Anderson is a 13-year-old girl from Goldsboro, North Carolina and writes for her school¿s newspaper. Her uncle, Brendan Gibson, is who she and Stevie are staying with during the Open. When Uncle Brendan fakes his own kidnapping, she runs into the apartment he is in and gets herself kidnapped too so the police can come in without a search warrant. Bobby Kelleher is the reason Stevie is at the Open. Bobby was the person that got him a press credential. He is a sportswriter for the Washington Herald and is friends with the director of the Open. The book is very surprising. Susan Carol¿s uncle is not home when she and Stevie come back from the Open on the day of the kidnapping. Susan Carol goes to bed but Stevie stays up a little longer. As he is walking to bed he heard the door unlock and Uncle Brendan and Mr. and Mrs. Makarova walk in. Elena Makarova is another tennis player in the Open. They were talking about Gibson becoming Makarova¿s agent and also about the kidnapping but they were talking about how they wanted her to be found so Stevie guessed they didn¿t kidnap her. When Stevie is going to the tennis center on a full subway, he gets shoved out the door a few stops early by two cops and is pushed and pulled up the stairs and into an alley. Once there, the two ¿cops¿ punch him twice and tell him not to interfere anymore with the kidnapping. Then Stevie gets back on the subway, goes to the tennis center, finds Kelleher, and passes out in front of him. When Uncle Brendan is kidnapped, Stevie and Susan Carol get the police to help them, but when they burst into the apartment where he is being held they see the two people who beat Stevie up on the subway. Later, the find out that the apartment is actually owned by Brendan¿s agency. Almost all of the characters have something to do with the kidnapping. The whole kidnapping was a money-making scheme set up by Mr. Norwood, Symanova¿s agent. After the kidnapping every news station in the country was paying them to put the story on TV or in the paper and they were making plans to make a movie. Brendan Gibson is Evelyn Rubin¿s agent. He was the first to find out the kidnapping was fake and promised not to tell if he got a cut of the movie that was going to be made. Even Elena Makorova, another tennis player, is involved. They told her that they would pay her to throw the game she had against Symanova so their movie would have a happy ending. This is a great mystery book. It is hard to guess who kidnapped Nadia Symanova , but when they meet with the movie director it is obvious they already know she is safe. Vanishing Act is a great book for middle schoolers.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great book

When I first picked up Vanishing Act: Mystery at the U.S. Open, I thought (since I LOVE tennis and it is not often to find a good tennis book), that it was going to be just another tennis book. The author of this book, John Feinstein, makes the book consist of not only tennis techniques, but also involves a mystery. The book first introduces the main characters, Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol, as typical teenagers in the modern world, New York City. Susan Carol. The main player in the story is a sixteen year old girl named Nadia Symanova. In the story, right before her match, she is kidnapped. Unfortunately, she was taken in a very large crowd and no one even realized what happened until after the fact. Now Stevie and Susan Carol take it upon themselves to find her before her time runs out and she is forced to forfeit her match. But these are no ordinary kidnappers. They will do anything to get what they want. They even try and hurt Stevie when him and Susan Carol get close to finding out whom they really are. This book is full of suspense, drama and not to mention, it is a page turner. Once you start reading this book, you can¿t stop. Each chapter gives ¿what will happen next?¿ moments. While I was reading this book, I was late to class because I sat down and HAD to finish the last chapter. Other than being a fantastic mystery novel, this book also gives examples of what tennis is like. This book is one of those books that you will want to read over and over again. I would recommend this book to readers that are in middle school and older. This is because even though the book is easy to read, it is also quite lengthy. I would also recommend this book to people who like tennis and like mysteries. I wouldn¿t recommend this book On April 26th 2008, I went to a CSI Presentation. It was about what to do during a crime scene. Trooper Orth gave the presentation. He talked about what to do when there is a crime committed. He let all of us know that wherever you are. Whatever the crime is, get all of the information from the scene. ¿First thing you do is document the scene.¿ ¿Trooper Orth ¿CSI Presentation.¿ New York State Police Department. Roy C. Ketcham, Wappingers Falls, New York. 26 April 2008.

a reviewer

I enjoyed this book just as I enjoyed the 1st one'Last Shot', it took you in complete suspense and was totally unpredictable, though it was wwaayyy below my reading level, it was a fun read. Susan Carol and Stevie are in another adventure, this time more important things are at stake.....

tennis is the best sport ever!

Nadia Symanova, the biggest name in women¿s tennis, has just been kidnapped en route to a match with hundreds of spectators watching. Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson are at the U.S. Open while this happens. They are among the many spectators, who are waiting to watch Nadia Symanova play her first round. It seems as though only Stevie and Susan Carol can find her with the help of Bobby Kelleher, Tamara Mearns, Bud Collins, and a few other people along the way. This book, Vanishing Act, is filled with adventure, suspense, and one big mystery. That¿s why I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys these kinds of books. Stevie met many people that wanted to help him and some that didn¿t. When Susan Carol and Stevie needed to get into the U.S. Open Club, they met a man named Mark Preston who got them `player family¿ credentials. Bobby Kelleher told Stevie and Susan Carol to go and talk to Tom Ross, who, according to Bobby Kelleher, knew every rumor there was in tennis. As for the people that wanted him to drop the case, Stevie was riding back on the subway and two guys, massive and intimidating, pushed him and told him to drop it, then they punched him really hard in the stomach. Instead of just snooping around for clues, Stevie and Susan Carol were able to watch some of the matches. They watched Nick Nocera play Thomas Johansson even though they needed to ask Tom Ross some questions. Also, they watched Evelyn Rubin play against Maggie Maleeva, and win. Most important, they watched Evelyn Rubin play Nadia Symanova at the very end of the case. Through out the book, there were many parts that were suspenseful. When Nadia Symanova didn¿t show up at the match when she was supposed to, it was very suspenseful because you didn¿t know what happened to her or if she was ok. When Uncle Brendan Gibson, Susan Carol¿s uncle, disappeared, you really wouldn¿t know what to make of it. Also, when Evelyn Rubin received a note in her locker just before the big match, you didn¿t know to be scared for her and scared for Uncle Brendan. It was very surprising when Nadia Symanova, the world¿s use-to-be biggest name in women¿s tennis, was led away in handcuffs after the big match. This book is very good when it comes to mystery, adventure, a little bit of suspense, and a good sport. John Feinstein did a fantastic job writing this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves adventures, mysteries, or tennis. E. Gray

AWESOME

this is the best book of all time anyone who like sports and mystery should read this

The Vanishing Act

The Vanishing Act In the book, The Vanishing Act, a thirteen year old boy, Stevie Thomas, and his fourteen year old girlfriend, Susan Carol Anderson, go to Manhattan, New York. In Manhattan the new teen superstar tennis player, Nadia Symanova, gets kidnapped. She suddenly reappears right before her first match. She goes and wins her first and second match to play Evelyn Rubin in the third round. Stevie, Susan Carol, and Evelyn discover that Evelyn¿s agent, Brendan Gibson, is missing. They go to his apartment and find out that on the answer machine it tells Brendan to go to apartment 4B and says the door code is 1547829. Susan Carol goes in the apartment while Stevie calls Pete Dowling {a FBI agent} and tells him to come to the apartment with a police squad. They arrest the four people holding Brendan and Susan Carol hostage, figured out that Nadia was faking her kidnapping, and figured out that Brendan was faking his kidnapping because the apartment was owned by his company. Evelyn plays and beats Nadia, but after the match Nadia, her parents, her agent, Brendan, some people in the SMG {company that helped Nadia fake her kidnapping}, some people in the SVR {Nadia¿s company}, and some people in the ISM {Brendan¿s company} get arrested for faking a kidnapping. I recommend this book because it¿s very interesting. It¿s a great mystery story. This book provides drama, suspense, suspects, and two kidnapping. The star tennis player, Nadia Symanova, gets kidnapped on a short walk from the junior girls¿ locker room to a tennis court nearby. Stevie and Susan Carol get closer to finding her and then farther away from finding her, but one day Nadia comes back from out of nowhere. This book is a great sports tale. If you want or need to learn about tennis, this book provides almost everything you need to know about tennis. It tells you about backhands, forehands, and slice shots. It even talks about the scoring system and tells you some of the players in professional tennis. This book talks about tennis life. It tells you how greedy and selfish tennis players and their agents get to win a tennis match or tournament so they can be rich and famous. It says when you play professional tennis, you have to practice two hours everyday and play about twelve tournaments a year. This book has mystery, sports, and adventure all packed into one. I recommend this book because it fits in most of the libraries categories for books.

Amazing!!!!

This was an amazing book. It was very suspenseful and a great mystery. I applaud John Feinstein on this

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This book was absolutely outstanding. John Feinstein needs to write more books like this. Hes either the best or teid for the best author I've ever read a book from

Awesome!

This was a great book! I don't know anything about tennis. I just picked it up and thought it looked good, and it was amazing! It wasn't a Sherlock Holmes mystery, it was a modern crime type mystery. I loved It!

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.