A dark truth: DAMAGE DONE by Amanda Panitch

Damage Done

by Amanda Panitch

Gr 9+

In the vein of We Were Liars and Gone Girl with a YA twist, Panitch delivers a heart-pounding, emotionally-charged novel that proves that not everything is what it seems. Julia Vann faces unmentionable consequences when her twin brother, Ryan, brings a gun to school and kills eleven people in the band room. Ryan, after shooting himself, remains in a coma, and Julia’s family moves to a different city to escape the whispers and outright hatred.

As Julia, now called Lucy, realizes her brother’s psychologist is following her, she must confront buried memories that threaten her daily existence. The slow trickle of reminiscences unveils a dark truth, one that Julia/Lucy wants hidden forever, and one in which she will go to extreme lengths to protect.

VERDICT: The latest in unreliable narrators, Panitch combines heart-twisting realities with good old-fashioned mystery.

Note: I reviewed Damage Done for School Library Journal.

A Ride on the YA Wild Side: JOYRIDE by Anna Banks

Joyride

by Anna Banks

Gr 9 Up –Good girl Carly and popular Arden combine forces in order to live more authentic lives in this angsty contemporary novel. Carly’s parents have been deported to Mexico and she works nights to support her family. Arden uses his bad-boy reputation to pull off grand, sometimes disastrous pranks to salve the pain of his sister’s death. Carly is not Arden’s type, at first—and Carly knows she is too busy to bother with him. Eager to escape the iron fist of his sheriff father, Arden grows closer to Carly after an unexpected encounter. Together they realize Arden’s father’s true intentions and work in concert to bring him to justice. 

With a dash of romance, Banks’s book tackles the issues of human smuggling, immigration, and a rogue police officer. Fans of Sarah Dessen and Deb Caletti will flock to the author’s fan pool. 

VERDICT  Relevant, risky, and romantic, this work is a clear standout in today’s contemporary YA niche.

* This review is featured in the School Library Journal March 27, 2015 edition.

Get Off At the Next Stop: THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins

If Ernest Hemingway were a woman and wrote a spin-off of Gone Girl, it would look very much like The Girl on the Train.  Gone Girl is incredibly crafted to deliver a psychological punch -- TGotT is a mostly flimsy, slapped-together, predictable addition to the unreliable narrator genre.

I want to like Rachel, I really do -- she's pathetic in her earnestness and inability to focus.  She's lost her job, her husband, and any hope of having children.  In order to keep up the charade of going to work, each day she takes the morning train into "work," walks around all day (usually drinking), and then takes the train home after "work."  Every morning the train makes a stop that allows Rachel to gaze into the houses built right next to the track.  One of those houses used to belong to her -- and her ex-husband, with his then-mistress and now-wife.  A few houses down, a seemingly loving couple lay out on the patio, unaware of Rachel's intense gaze.  Rachel names the couple Jess and Jason, and proceeds to imagine their sophisticated, affection life together.

Except, appearances can be deceiving.  Just like Rachel attempts to fool everyone that she is not an alcoholic and still has a job, it is quite easy to see the rifts in “Jess” and “Jason”’s relationship.  Rachel conveniently blacks out quite often, enabling her to forget what she did the day and night before – did she knock on her ex-husband’s door again?  Did she leave drunken voicemail messages again? 

Storylines between Tom (Rachel’s ex-husband), “Jess,” “Jason,” Rachel, and Tom’s new wife all begin to cross paths more often than not.  I could predict the ending relatively early in, leaving me to race through supposedly taut and mysterious scenes in the hopes that something, anything, would surprise me.

Somehow Marigolds Come Into Play -- A Fall of Marigolds

A Fall of Marigolds

by Susan Meissner

I wanted to like this book; Meissner attempted to deftly weave similarities between a woman living and working in 1911's NYC and a woman living/working in present-day NYC (having suffered a tragedy in the 9/11 terrorist attacks).

I felt the parts dealing with the present-day (and the near-past flashbacks to 9/11) were handled fairly well; they felt raw, real, and organic.  My issue with the novel stemmed from the 1911 flashbacks, which focused on a woman who lost a potential love in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire.

Clara met and fell in love with Edward in the elevator to the building; they had not even gone on a date when the fire broke out and Edward tragically died.  Trying to escape the painful memories, Clara volunteered for a stint on Ellis Island as a nurse.  A brief stint turned into months of near-isolation as Clara attempted to move past the tragedy that has now overtaken her life.

Clara, to me, is a weak and unrealistic character.  Every person around her handles her with kid gloves.  She is repetitive and quite honestly too overwrought; it is obvious she has some severe mental issues going on, but instead of forcing her to confront them and get treatment, her friends and family pander to them.  It's infuriating.  Somehow she gets two men to fall in love with her, too.  Whatever!

Don't Read This Unless You Want to Bludgeon Yourself

What Has Become Of You

by Jan Elizabeth Watson

I'm writing this review as I recently wrapped up my 9th year as an educator (and currently a middle school librarian).  There were just way too many flimsy plotholes in this book to take it seriously.

The first gaping hole is when the teacher does what she does with Jensen -- ALL of it.  All teachers undergo thorough training and are mandated reporters.  The fact that Vera did not immediately report Jensen's journals are ridiculous.  And then...AND THEN...(spoiler alert)...this idiot woman goes to a hotel room with her student...AND THEN...drinks alcohol with her student.  It gets worse.  She lies to the police, more than once.  I just want to bludgeon Vera with something, anything, because it is incredibly stupid, and then I want to bludgeon myself for even taking the time to read this inane story.

(SPOILER) That Jensen is unhinged is obvious from the very first email she sends to Vera.  So, it was not a psychological thriller for me.  More like an exercise in vapidity.

But hey, the really dumb teacher who is fired can become a librarian, so at least there's that.  I really hated the way librarians were portrayed in this novel, first as suspiciously-uptight (and no librarian would ever go on record and tell a newspaper what a patron checks out, that violates privacy laws--yet another hole), and then as a way for Vera to somehow redeem her idiot self.

OK, I'm done.  Just DONE.