The Girl Who Wasn't There

Nancy Drew: Girl Detective Graphic Novels #4

by Stefan Petrucha, Sho Murase (Illustrator)

Nancy gets a call for help late one night from a girl she befriended over
the phone when getting technical support to help fix her computer. When the
line goes dead, Nancy is determined to get to the bottom of things. Soon,
Nancy, her Dad, and friends George and Bess are on their way to India to
find Kalpana, the girl who wasn¹t there! It's only a matter of time before
Nancy is captured by Sahadev the crime lord and is being sacrificed to Kali!  Ages 8 to 12. Papercutz is the exciting new graphic novel publisher that's building a huge following among the next generation of comics fans.  Even the most reluctant readers are becoming addicted to the Papercutz approach of giving classic characters a modern makeover!  Each Papercutz graphic novel features comics stories drawn in the style of the popular Japanese comics known as manga, and beautifully rendered with state of the art color.  While educators rave about the  high quality of the Papercutz writing and artwork, readers 8 and up are simply enjoying the great adventures found in each fun-filled volume.  Be sure to check out other Papercutz titles such as The Hardy Boys,  Zorro and Totally Spies

Genres: Graphic Novels, Mystery, Comics, Classics, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult

96 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Stefan Petrucha (born January 27, 1959) is an American writer for adults and young adults. He has written graphic novels in the The X-Files and Nancy Drew series, as well as science fiction and horror.
Born in the Bronx, he has spent time in the big city and the suburbs, and now lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, fellow writer Sarah Kinney, and their daughters. At times he has been a tech writer, an educational writer, a public relations writer and an editor for trade journals, but his preference is for fiction in all its forms.

Reviews

[SunnyGirlSue · Rating 3 out of 5]

"For a minute, I thought I was back home in River Heights, lying in my bed, half asleep. I wondered if maybe the whole phone call from Kalpana was just a dream... it wasn't a dream .. it was a nightmare"


Ngl, as much fun as it was, seeing Nancy in India, going up against baddies that still worshipped and sacrificed to Kali .. to me, this was one of her lesser mystery/adventures.
But Nancy will always be my girl 🥰

[Sha Mohamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Komik penyiasatan oleh Nancy Drew.. Bukan mudah mencari kawan hilang yang hanya nama dan suaranya sahaja yang diketahui.. Namun Nancy tak putus asa dan berjaya menemui kawannya itu serta membongkar kegiatan cetak rompak..

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.

http://spreadthewordnevada.org/

Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.

I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.

[Isabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

currently regressing

[Stacey Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nancy Drew Graphic Novels are so fun to read. In this one she makes a friend of Kalpana, a call center employee in New Delhi, when she has a computer problem and calls the help line for a fix. They become "phone friends" and when Kalpana finds herself in trouble with no one she can trust, not even the police, she calls Nancy for help. Nancy, her father and her friends board a plane to New Delhi and begin looking for her friend. Kalpana is missing and Nancy has to uncover the truth of what has happened with no help from the locals who are all afraid of the man they believe has kidnapped Kalpana. Nancy finds herself in dangerous trouble separated from her friends who commandeer a rickshaw, having a harrowing experience of their own, trying to follow Nancy.
I learned how the telephone works when calling India while reading an exciting story of two women who have never met in person but have a bond of friendship strong enough that one will risk flying across the world to come to the other's aid. Nancy's friends brought along from the USA always have Nancy's back no matter what crazy situation she gets into....she knows they are there to help and they won't give up. Using their wits against seemingly tougher foes sends a message that you can overcome many difficult situations if you keep your wits about you and think clearly to find a way out.

[Jill Jemmett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel had a silly premise. Nancy became friends with a telemarketer in India. When the girl, Kalpana, called Nancy, she discovered that she was a fan of Nancy Drew, so they kept chatting. However, one day Kalpana went missing. Coincidentally, Nancy’s father was going on a business trip to India. Nancy and her friends tagged along to search for her friend.

It was a little strange that Nancy would drop everything to go find a girl who she had only spoken with on the phone. She didn’t know the girl well, but she was willing to travel across the world to find her. It may make Nancy seem like a great friend, but it was also foolish because she had no idea who this girl could be.

Though I had problems with the plot, the graphics in the book were great. I love how there was a depth of field because certain parts of the images were in focus while others were blurry or out of focus. It made the images look real. There was also movement in the pictures by making them look blurry on the edges to show people or things moving.

Despite the silly premise, I think Nancy Drew fans would like this graphic novel.

[Carol Palmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first graphic novel I've ever read. It was very much like the old comic books, but longer. And not as funny as the Archie comics! I'm not really sure how to judge this book. It's really skimpy on plot, characterization, depth of story, etc. but as I understand, that's the whole idea of the graphic novel -- telling a story in pictures with minimal verbiage and not a lot of extra information. I imagine it's OK for kids, but not really for me.

[Danada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy, Bess, and George are hip modern teens in this graphic novel series. It is interesting to see how the mysteries have been adapted to the graphic novel format. Because the book is so short much of the story is told not through action, but through a more omniscient narrator, almost in the way you see in old noir mysteries.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must say, this is nothing like how I pictured Bess.

Also, I love that Nancy flies to incredibly populous India with nothing but a first name, and yet somehow finds someone who actually knows the person she is talking about. In what world would that happen?!

[Katie Solt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I would like the original series better. I did not like this book

[Judah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow an actual good mystery and a massively good bump in art quality shows that the Papercutz Nancy Drew team was finding their rhythm. Wonder what happened by the end of the series?

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy Drew never fails to amaze me. Stefan Petrucha deserves a 5-star rating for making Nancy Drew more fun to read.

[Lyli]

I think this was a good book. I would read this book again. It shows how Nancy cared for her friend.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Title cool.

Book...not so much

[Water Viper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this little detective book

[Holli Keel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun and different. You have to suspend quite a bit of disbelief to go with the plot, but I let it go and enjoyed it. I’m enjoying this Nancy Drew graphic novel series enough that I’ll probably track down the rest of the books I can find.

[Katie McGaha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I personally didn't care too much for this book but I can see where a child, 2nd or 3rd grade, might enjoy it. I'm not a fan of this style of art work but it definitely kept the book exciting where the story lacked enthusiasm. I thought the story had some great realistic parts as well as some poorly written parts that would never have happened. For example, how old is Nancy Drew? Her new friend, which she unrealistically made through tech support, gets kidnapped so she goes around the world to save her. We are talking someone she barely knows and is not even sure if she's in trouble. If you can swallow that just wait for it, it get's worse. I liked how they had realistic facts about New Delhi and how messed up the legal system is with crime lords over there. Though it may be a bit of an adult bad guy because throughout the book and up till the end Nancy talks about how they are smugglers, which can make you assume all kinds of things. Then Nancy, this awesome detective, gets kidnapped herself. I really disliked how her person cell just happened to be unlocked, REALLY? Then we are led to believe she has been killed but instead they just throw her out of a moving car. What kind of crime lord would let their victims go, especially ones trying to scooby-doo the situation?? I just thought it was a weak mystery or at least it was way to easy to solve, plus it was a real life scary situation and I feel Nancy Drew just kind of raised her nose like she could talk her way out of anything. I had hoped that plan of action would fail her this time and send a real message to readers.

[Niza · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an interactive book and suitable for young malaysian as suggested.
This is an easy attraction for new readers and he storyline are interesting

[Kayla Fallis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel by Stefan Petrucha is based on the popular series by Carolyn Keene. Grwoing up, Nancy Drew was one of my favorite series to read. I always loved the mystery that was presented in each book. I always wanted to try and solve the cases myself. In this graphic novel, Nancy travels to India to look for a phone pal that has been kidnapped. When she gets there she starts searching and gets herself into trouble but she ends up solving the crime and finding her friend that was kidnapped. Graphic Novels are a fun way to present a story to students, especially ones that do not really enjoy reading.As a child, I was never into reading graphic novels but I think that they are great for getting students into reading. If they enjoy these, they may be persuaded to read the actual novels and then continue enjoying to read.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was quite honestly a bit ridiculous and very far fetched. I understand you have to suspend your belief to even go along with a teenager who is capable of solving crimes, but in this particular story Nancy and the gang leave the country. They travel to India to find a young woman who has befriended Nancy. The young woman works in a call center and was abducted. Somehow Nancy is going to work to find a young woman that everyone keeps telling her does not only not exist but she would do well to pretend she doesn't know of her either. Sounds like a good plan to me, not to mention the logical thing to do given you are in another country that doesn't particularly care for Americans. Especially the meddling kind. I did finish the book and of course things work out as they should. I just didn't particularly care for the plot of this one.

[Yadira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let’s get to the point here, The girl who wasn't there about Nancy drew, who loves solving mysteries. Nancy ends up meeting a girl named Kalpana on the phone and later on, Kalpana calls Nancy and tells her that there is two men in her house. Nancy has to go find Kalpana and help her escape.

Now Nancy parks outside Kalpana’s House and see’s that there is two men in a van parked on Kalpana’s driveway.Nancy follows the van and then she see's the two men go in a small house. Then Nancy goes inside….

Read to find out what happens next! This is a good book for people that like mysteries and graphic novels. I like this book because it’s genre is graphic novel. This book is by Stefan Petrucha.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth manga in the series. In this case Nancy talks to a woman in India who ends up getting kidnapped, so she goes to India to try to find the girl who was working at a call center. There's a little bit of Indian culture that is covered but not much. She doesn't get much cooperation in her work, though, since the people she talks to fear the crooks.

The evil guys are involved with making pirate copies of movies. A mole has been planted among the crooks, though, and his identity becomes important in the story.

Nancy finds the girl, which is good, but gets kidnapped and locked up herself, which isn't really so good. In the end, of course, her intelligence and resourcefulness gets her and her friend out of trouble and the crooks caught.

A good story.

[Shonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy Drew needs help with her computer. During a call to customer service, she meets Kalpana, the CS representative. Long after Nancy’s computer is fixed, she remains in contact with Kalpana, who resides in India. One night Nancy receives a distressing call from Kalpana who believes someone is in her house to kidnap her.

It just so happens Nancy’s father has a scheduled business trip in India and purchases additional plane tickets for Nancy and her friends Bess and George. Shortly after arriving in India, Nancy stumbles across clues to the case and finds herself on the trail of the kidnappers. Can she rescue Kalpana in time before she becomes the kidnappers’ next victim?

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a great surprise to learn about and see that Nancy Drew was carrying on as a graphic novel now. While I wasn't too keen on the art style, I still sucked it up and enjoyed it. The story was good, but Nancy was a bonehead! She was so absent minded and forgetful, this was nothing like the real Nancy Drew in the main series. I was disappointed about that, but it was still a fun read.
One other thing I am wondering about is where the heck is Helen Corning? Nancy seems to only be hanging out with Bess and George now. Don't get me wrong, I like Bess and George, but I liked Helen too.

[Krysta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once again Nancy and her friends have no phones, even though they are knowingly walking into a dangerous situation. This, coupled with the idea that Nancy is going to go to another country to solve a missing person's case with nothing but a first name, city, and workplace to help her, really tested my suspension of disbelief. I was also disappointed that the pictures don't really work with the text to tell the story. Instead, large text blocks move the narrative.

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd never really read any graphic novels until I saw that _Twilight_ was being made into one, and that piqued my curiosity.

I've always been a HUGE Nancy Drew fan, and I'm surprised at how well the series lends itself to the graphic novel genre. I look forward to reading more Girl Detective books. :)

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, easy read, with good background info on the people and places. This story took place in India and the book provided info on the country's capital, languages spoken, etc. Mystery, action and humor.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, that was a huge waste of time. This book is incredibly stupid. She is locked in a jail cell and when she tries to pick the lock, ..... Wait for it........... It is already unlocked!!!!!! Who in their right mind kidnaps someone and leaves their cell door UNLOCKED????? I hated it.

[Seema M. Fazil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than some other ND graphic novels I've read. I liked it, but not my favourite! It was still slow, but what I really liked about it was that it was easy to understand. No confusion.
Still, as usual the HB graphic novels will always be better!

[Raja99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another fun and fast-paced story. It's set largely in India (!) and seemed pretty authentic to me. (Granted, I haven't been to New Delhi for decades.)

(Finished 2009-09-10 14:56:09 EDT.)