With her first novel, Are You Alone On Purpose?, Nancy Werlin was
named as a Publisher's Weekly Flying Start Author, while this one
won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best
Young Adult Novel of 1999. This will come as no surprise to those
who read this gripping story. It is written in clear,
straightforward English which is a pleasure to read and is entirely
without undue sensationalism; and though, as we're warned, it
becomes in its later stages 'an utterly terrifying psychodrama',
the author works up gradually to the frightening climax, beginning,
cleverly, with hints about what has happened and what is to come,
without ever revealing details - so that the reader feels compelled
to race through the early chapters in search of more clues. Did
David kill his girlfriend Emily? If so, how and - even more
relevantly - why? And what is his 11-year-old cousin Lily's secret,
which has turned her into a psychological mess? Tried and acquitted
of Emily's murder, David has been sent by his parents for the last
year of his pre-college education to stay in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, with his Aunt Julia and Uncle Vic - who obviously
don't want him - and their daughter Lily, who is jealous, angry and
awkward and who shows an unhealthy interest in David's recent
experiences. At school, because of sensational press publicity, his
name is well known - so both at 'home' and at school he's regarded
with suspicion. Two unlikely friends make things just bearable:
Frank, an intellectual and rebellious skinhead, and Raina, a young
artist who rents part of his uncle's house. The exploration of
character - even the most minor figures - is a major factor in the
story's strength; another is its unobtrusively careful
construction, its slow build-up of tension, and its explosive
release. A teenage novel it may be, but teenagers' parents might
equally enjoy it. (Kirkus UK)
Guilt, murder, ghosts - will David and Lily ever escape the past?
Recently acquitted of accidently killing his girlfriend but still
crucified with guilt, 17-year-old David has moved to Massachusetts
to complete his senior year of high school. His aunt and uncle have
offered him shelter. His attic apartment in their house is full of
ghostly shadows at night, his aunt is cold, and his 11-year-old
cousin Lily is hostile. As Lily's behaviour becomes more
threatening towards him, David wonders what secrets lurk within
Lily. The more he thinks about Lily, the more he is forced to deal
with his own past. Is Lily a killer too?
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