First impressions: I had not heard much about this book. I requested it on NetGalley because I thought the story looked interesting and different for the YA market. As soon as I started reading it, I was so happy with my choice to try out this book. It draws you into the mystery from the first pages, and Rain is a terrific teen character.
Lasting impressions: YA contemporary meets mystery/suspense thriller? Full of win!
Conflicting impressions: Okay, so the killer is kind of easy to spot. Luckily there’s a whole lot more happening in this book.
Overall impressions: It would be so easy to just say, “Yeah, this is a murder mystery about a rich private school girl who liked to party.” That screams Law and Order: SVU doesn’t it? It sounds like it’ll be this quick read about a girl who runs off and gets drunk at a party and winds up dead and her friend saves the day by catching the bad guy.
It’s so much more than that.
It’s about how the persona one high school girl chose to present to her classmates warped their perception of her death. It’s about secrets and the price we pay to keep them. It’s about how love and attraction can be mishandled and exploited. It’s about the media’s role in victim blaming, and how the public uses it to feel safer. In short, there’s a lot under the surface of this seemingly simple story.
I appreciated following this plot through the naive eyes of Rain – a girl still recovering from a painful speech impediment and trying to finish high school without drawing more wrath from the popular crowd. Wendy, a vivacious outsider desperate to either fit in or make waves (whichever is more convenient), befriends Rain when few else will. It is that loyalty that drives Rain to find out what really happened to Wendy after she is found dead in Central Park.
Rain struggles to marry the Wendy she knew with the Wendy splashed across tabloid pages and whispered about in the halls. She pushes to find the truth, often through conversations with people she’d rather not have to speak with, and as the events of that night start to unravel, Rain gains the courage to keep right on pushing. She has to make difficult decisions – when to tell the truth, when to state suspicions, when to break a confidence – and she also has to deal with difficult consequences. The question she must answer time and again is “How far will I go to honor Wendy?” Finding the answer to that question is half the fun of this delightful mystery.
Highly recommended to whodunit fans and YA contemporary readers.
Rating: 4/5 stars
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A lover of words and sparkly things.
A YA mystery? I will have to check this one out!
Right? I hope to see more in this genre!
Great review. I agree, this was really good. I can’t wait to recommend it to my teens!
I think this is such a great book for teens. Lots of good lessons without being obnoxious.
Awesome review on a book I’ve not ever heard of. It does sound deep and worth taking the time to read. I’ve been a bit burned out on Contemp lately, but this one might be a good way to get my feet back in the water.
You should try it Gina!
I’ve never read David Levithan before, but this sounds so incredibly interesting!
Wow, a character that changes everyday. I will definitely be checking this one out.