A YEAR FOR KRISTINE

Lucas’ novel, Part 1 in a three-part series, tells of a young woman’s coming-of-age in the 1960s.
Kristine Harmon may be young, beautiful and quick with a gun (due to frequent hunting and shooting range trips with her father), but her small-town life is far from easy. With a controlling father who regularly rapes her and a largely indifferent mother, Kristine’s existence is a nightmare. As one character puts it, “Her father is crazy and her mother doesn’t seem to give a shit.” However, when fellow high school marching band member Daniel steps into the picture, Kristine’s lonely suffering begins to diminish. Daniel may not be as smart or athletic as many of the boys in the town of New Castle, but he’s kind and gentle with Kristine. As the two build a relationship together, Kristine’s father becomes outraged; as the respected local police chief, he’s free to express his outrage in any way he sees fit. What can a poor boy like Daniel—with his hardworking mother and his shellshocked father—do against a villain as powerful as Kristine’s father? How will Kristine survive the torment and, judging by the number of guns in circulation in this small town, the violence that is to follow? Successful in creating a truly menacing antagonist, the novel takes a serious angle on the woes of being a teenager. Kristine’s father is, after all, not merely manipulative; he’s legitimately evil. Kristine’s survival provides an intriguing conflict that calls for both external support and inner strength. Dipping occasionally into high school clichés—“We just started dating and I like you very much. I don’t know if I could stand to leave you at the end of the summer”—the novel culminates in a bloody scene that hardly spells the end of Kristine’s troubles. Readers will be eager to see how one teenage girl’s unimaginable situation turns out.
Engaging teen turmoil that only rarely slips into cliché.