Wanted! is a 1997 book by Caroline Cooney. It focuses on fifteen-year old Alice Robie, who is home alone when she gets a strange phone call from her father telling her to take his car to meet with him. A short time later, Alice hears over the radio that her father has been found murdered, and that she herself has sent a confession claiming to have killed him. Now on the run from the police, Alice tries to unravel the mystery and stay ahead of the killer before he finds her.
Contains examples of the following tropes:
- Big Bad: Dick Arren/ Rick Rellen.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Dick Arren is a computer executive who is stealing formulas from other companies so he can make money selling them to their competition.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: It’s implied that Dick Arren killed Rob by snapping his spine.
- Daddy's Girl: Alice and her father are very close, which makes his murder hit even harder.
- A Dick in Name: Dick Arren, a Corrupt Corporate Executive who manipulates and murders those in his way.
- Evil Gloating: The killer states "I killed him good," while standing right next to Alice's hiding place.
- Familial Foe: Dick Arren, who is responsible for killing Alice's uncle and father.
- Faux Affably Evil: Dick Arren is polite and charming when he's not murdering people, though he drops the act when he thinks there's no one to expose him.
- Foreshadowing:
- The killer indicates that he knows Alice's father, claiming his Neat Freak tendencies drive everyone crazy. It's also said early on that this was a factor in her parents' divorce.
- The killer had to know Alice's password to use her E-mail and shows a detailed knowledge of how she talks, indicating that it's someone she knows quite well.
- Frame-Up: The killer sends Alice's mother a forged E-mail where she claims to have killed her father.
- Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: Marc's brother Rob was used by Dick Arren to steal secrets from a shampoo company. He's killed by Arren to keep him from talking.
- Help Mistaken for Attack: Alice's friends are trying to find her because they're concerned for her safety, but Alice thinks they're hunting her for the police.
- Kick the Dog: When Marc tells Dick Arren that he’s going to prove he killed Rob, Arren snaps a pencil in two and sneers, “That’s your brother, kid. Garbage in the road."
- Killed Offscreen: Alice's father is likely already dead when the killer dumps him in Alice's condo, and it's never said how he was killed.
- Manipulative Bastard: Dick Arren, to the point that he seduces the wife of his enemy with her being none the wiser.
- Neat Freak: The killer expresses annoyance at Marc for being this, noting that it drives people crazy.
- Non-Indicative Name: Alice's father notes that he and his brother weren't twins, but liked to think of each other that way.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Alice realizes her father is in trouble because he wants her to drive his car, which she's normally not allowed to touch.
- Marc claims that his brother Rob touching him was a sign that something was seriously wrong.
- Properly Paranoid: Alice has an intense dislike of Rick Rellen and doesn't think she can trust him. She's right.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Marc has been on a twenty-year search to find his brother's killer.
- The Sociopath: Dick Arren fits all the criteria, being superficially charming, sadistic, and solving his problems with murder. He's also described as having an uncanny stare that is often seen in sociopaths.
- The Spook: Dick Arren is quite adept at disappearing without a trace, and it's unclear if that's even his real name.
- Two Aliases, One Character: Dick Arren and Rick Rellen are one and the same.
