Book Review- The Tension of Opposites

I just finished reading The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride for an Around the World Tour.

From Goodreads:

It’s been two years since Noelle disappeared. Two years since her bike was discovered, sprawled on a sidewalk. Two years of silence, of worry, of fear.

For those two long years, her best friend Tessa has waited, living her own life in a state of suspended animation. Because how can she allow herself to enjoy a normal high school life if Noelle can’t? How dare she have other friends, go to dances, date boys, without knowing what happened to the girl she thought she would share everything with?

And then one day, someone calls Noelle’s house. She’s alive.

A haunting psychological thriller taken straight from the headlines, The Tension of Opposites is a striking debut that explores the emotional aftermath of a kidnapping on the victim, and on the people she left behind.
 
First of all, let me say that I liked the premise of this story.  I had never heard of Stockholm Syndrome (where the person who has been abducted shows signs of loyalty to the kidnapper) so it was neat to read about this in the story (although Elle claimes that she did not experience this).
 
But I'm not too sure about other parts of the story.  For example, I just plain didn't like Elle.  Yes, I know she just went through something traumatic, for two years, but to me, she just plain seem like a bitch.  And from some of the flashbacks that Tessa has, it seems like Elle was sort of like that before she was kidnapped.  There was no reason for her to be so mean to Tessa.  It seemed like all of her anger was directed at her and I just didn't get it.
 
There also seemed to be a lot of loose ends.  For example, how did the kidnapper know Noelle's name, her family members name, and their addresses?  There had to be a connection there somehow but there was nothing divulged about it.  Another thing was that Elle was seen out in public and even had other friends while she was kidnapped, but she never tried to get away or to have her kidnapper caught.  And while she claimed she didn't have Stockholm Syndrome, she never really explained why she did what she did.  I kept thinking something else would come out.
 
So while I enjoyed reading this story, and it held my interest, I think there needed to be more in it.
 
I gave this book a rating of 3.5/5.

The Tension of Opposites will be released on May 25, 2010.
 
This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2010 100+ Reading Challenge: 48
2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 35
2010 Debut Author Challenge: 12
ARC Reading Challenge 2010: 33

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.