MARLY IN PIECES

A teenage girl’s death leaves her best friend with bittersweet memories and dangerous questions.

2014 is a terrible year for Marly, who has just discovered the body of her best friend, Rae, in a ramshackle cabin in the woods (“If not for her grayish-blue complexion and Goth-purple lips, Rae could’ve been sleeping”). Three years earlier, when they were in their early teens, they had found that cabin and dubbed it their “sanctuary,” a place to escape their troubled home lives. They swore a blood oath to be best friends and keep the cabin for them alone, but boys and adolescent insecurities slowly drove them apart. Constantine alternates between the two timelines throughout the novel. In the past, Marly and Rae’s deep friendship falters thanks to Rae’s partying, some snarky friends, and, most importantly, a hot jock named Duffy. Marly can hardly believe Duffy’s interest in her, even as a real relationship develops, because she feels a competition brewing with her lively, beautiful bestie. Meanwhile, in the present storyline, the teenage drama becomes deadly serious as it becomes clear that Rae’s death was not a suicide. With each new revelation about Rae’s secrets, Marly realizes that everyone’s a suspect. The mystery at the core of Constantine’s YA novel will hold few surprises for fans of the genre, who will probably guess the guilty party early on. What does surprise, however, is the fascinating codependency between the two girls. Rae and Marly wound each other deeply and repeatedly with barbed comebacks and secrets before reconciling, always dancing around their mutual infatuation. The novel treads through the usual suspects of shocking teenage crises: pregnancy, self-harm, love triangles, and treacherous adults. But Rae and Marly’s tender, twisted love for each other gives the story real drama.

A predictable teenage murder mystery—with exceptional teenage characters.