From the middle of page one, when Hope walks in on her sister holding a shotgun and “thinking about // leaving” (killing herself), emotional velocity never slows. They’ve grown up intricately bonded: “It is your job, / Liz, / to take care of your / little sister. // And you, Hope, / Momma said / her finger pointing like / she meant it, / you take care of Lizzie.” Momma’s harsh (musing that she should’ve aborted them), money’s short and Daddy’s dead; but the girls have each other and the freedom to roam around their Florida town, so what’s causing this new violent depression that forces Lizzie into hospital lockdown? Despite the close first-person narration, hints emerge before Hope quite comprehends them; readers may envision two possibilities about the nature of Lizzie’s trauma, by the time dedicated Hope figures it out. Williams leans hard on her free-verse line breaks for drama (“And I almost / forget / every / awful / thing / in / my / life”), and it works. A page-turner for Ellen Hopkins fans. (Fiction. YA)
