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Have You Seen This Girl

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Have You Seen This Girl (Literature)
Sid Atkinson, a non-binary seventeen year old living in Cardinal Creek, North Carolina, has lived for years under the dark cloud of their dad's crimes. Dennis Crane is a Serial Killer who murdered five girls who's currently serving life without parole for this.

When new murders begin occurring that are copies of the originals, the town's wounds are reopened. Many already view Sid with suspicion over what their dad did, while these murders only make that even worse. Sid sets out to catch the murderer themself, but this may make them a target too. At the same time, Sid grows into friends with Mavis, a girl at their school who alone of them all treats Sid kindly, and it soon becomes clear they're attracted to each other too.

Tropes:

  • 20 Minutes into the Past: The book was published 2024, and set in 2018.
  • All Therapists Are Muggles: Sid can hear the voices of the girls whom their dad murdered, and later sees ghosts as well. After telling their therapist, Sid was prescribed medication and went along with calling them hallucinations. It was real, however.
  • Blaming the Victim: Sid says that while publicly everyone was sympathetic toward Lauren, one of the murdered girls, in private many would blame her for reckless behavior which made her vulnerable.
  • Calling Parents by Their Name: Sid's dad has called his mom Marybeth ever since his arrest.
  • Consulting a Convicted Killer: Sid talks with her imprisoned dad in hopes of getting insight on a copycat committing murders like his, but he doesn't help much.
  • Dark and Troubled Past:
    • Sid's dad is a Serial Killer serving life for five murders, which they're shunned over for being his child.
    • Mavis had a younger sister named Gigi who went missing. She's sure Gigi's dead, but her parents are obsessed with the hope she might come back and mostly ignore her.
  • Death by Falling Over: The new Serial Killer gets pushed over by one of his victim's ghosts and hits his head fatally.
  • Domestic Abuse: It turns out Sid's mom left because their dad had hit her. Though it was the only time, she clearly saw the rage in him, and he later murdered five girls.
  • Do Not Call Me "Paul": Sid doesn't like to be called their full name Sidney. Most people respect this.
  • Important Haircut: Sid began to cut their hair short then shaved it when advised by the ghosts of their dad's victims after he was arrested, because he shaved the girls’ heads too.
  • Instant Sedation: Sid's dad used a chloroform soaked rag over their noses to knock some of his victims out, and it worked very quickly.
  • I See Dead People: Sid regularly hears the ghosts of the girls whom their dad murdered. Later they also start seeing the ghosts of new murder victims as well.
  • It's All My Fault:
    • Dawn's brother Jeremy was late and didn't pick her up on time at school, which led to her kidnapping and murder by a Serial Killer. Years later he still blames himself over it.
    • Sid is horrified to learn their dad had murdered the girls to work out his rage on someone other than them, believing this makes the murders all their fault. When it turns out that the new Serial Killer has been murdering for revenge against her dad, Sid again blames themself as a result.
  • Jack the Ripoff: A decade after Dennis Crane murdered five girls, someone is copying what he did, down to committing murders on the same dates.
  • Longer-Than-Life Sentence: Sid's dad received five consecutive sentences of life without parole for each murder that he committed.
  • Missing White Woman Syndrome: Sid relates how the police only really got interested in the missing girls after some “good” ones were victims.
  • Nice Girl: Mavis is kind and befriends Sid, while making sure to ask what pronouns they prefer. No one else does this, instead shunning Sid over their dad's crimes with no regard to their non-binary gender too. Alone of them all, Mavis also won't blame Sid over their dad's murders after learning about this.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Sid's legal name is Sidney, but they now only go by Sid.
  • Parental Abandonment: Sid's mom left, while their dad's in prison for life.
  • Plea Bargain: Sid's dad pled guilty to the murders so he could avoid the death penalty, and received five sentences of life without parole instead.
  • Queer Establishing Moment:
    • Sid's internal thoughts make clear they're assigned female at birth but also non-binary and attracted to girls early on.
    • Lauren O’Malley also was involved with Jessica Reed it turns out from the sequence about her, with the girls making out secretly.
    • Mavis, a girl Sid gets close with, it turns out is also attracted to them. She kisses Sid, who also likes her. Raised by Grandparents: Sid's mom left and their dad's in prison. Due to this, Sid's raised now by their paternal grandmother, Gram.
  • The Reveal: The new Serial Killer is Jeremy Schaefer, who's the brother of one of the original five victims, Dawn Schaefer.
  • Revenge by Proxy: Jeremy Schaefer is the new Serial Killer, murdering in the same way Sid's dad Dennis Crane did to take revenge for his sister's murder by Crane through framing Sid for the crimes.
  • Serial Killer: Sid's dad murdered five girls and is now imprisoned for life. A new killer has now begun murdering girls the same way he did.
  • The Sheriff: Grant Kepler is the Sheriff of Wayne County, North Carolina, which includes the town Cardinal Creek, the story's setting. He was the one who arrested Sid's dad over the original murders. When new ones occur, he starts investigating.
  • Sins of Our Fathers: Sid's dad is a Serial Killer who's in prison for it. Due to this, Sid's deemed dangerous and mostly shunned by other people who know about it. After similar murders start happening, Sid soon gets suspected of being the murderer, supposedly having inherited his urge or being taught this by their dad, despite being innocent and trying to find out who's doing it. Sid's grandma as well was harassed with calls and vandalism due to this.
  • The Sociopath: Sid's dad isn't capable of love, her grandma says. Her mom left after she realized this, and he can't regret murdering five girls either.
  • Strong Family Resemblance:
    • Sid looks a lot like their dad, so that anyone can tell the family connection. Once they liked that, after Sid's mom left especially. As he's now in prison for murder, Sid no longer likes it, unsurprisingly.
    • Mavis also looks almost identical to her parents.
  • Teen Pregnancy: Sid's grandma gave birth to their dad when she was just fifteen.
  • Title Drop: Have You Seen This Girl? is on posters about missing girls many times in the book, and prefaces the sequences on them.
  • We Used to Be Friends: Sid was once best friends with Sally Louise. However, Sally's dad is the sheriff who had Sid's dad arrested for murder, ending this. They slowly become friends again during the book.

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