The engaging and unpredictable plot will sustain readers’ interest despite the uneven characterization.
A high school junior becomes entangled in a murder case after her friend’s boyfriend is found dead at the train station by her house.
Aspiring criminologist Sadie Morelli lives with her dad in the western New York state town of Hailing. After her parents split up and her mom left, her dad encouraged her to transfer to high school in nearby Arcadia, which has a better reputation. A fierce hockey rivalry exists between the schools. Kai, Sadie’s best friend Quinn’s boyfriend, plays for Arcadia, and he and his friends are part of Sadie’s social group. But reconnecting with Cason, a guy she knows from middle school who plays for Hailing, feels truly meaningful to Sadie, even though they have to keep their relationship secret. When Kai is killed and the police begin an investigation, it turns out many people are hiding things—but Sadie and Cason are the ones everyone suspects, and they’re desperate to clear their names. The narrative shifts among the first-person perspectives of Sadie and Cason, police interviews, text message exchanges, and transcripts from a true crime podcast, incrementally ratcheting up the tension and keeping readers on their toes. Sadie and Cason’s burgeoning romance is compelling enough but Sadie’s friendship with Quinn, who seems one-dimensionally self-involved and melodramatic, is less so; it’s hard to see why smart, straightforward Sadie is so dedicated to her. All main characters read white.
The engaging and unpredictable plot will sustain readers’ interest despite the uneven characterization. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781335013873
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Storytide/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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