A searing, dark tale, but the vengeful protagonist overshadows the trauma victim.
A Kansas high schooler becomes obsessed with retribution after her best friend, a teenage boy, is raped in this debut novel.
During the fall semester of 2001, Rebecca White is looking forward to graduating from Plains High and enjoying new adventures, hopefully in a green Jeep, with Luke Warren riding shotgun. They dated briefly in middle school and are now the closest of friends; he believes in Rebecca, who wants to be “authentic with a capital A. The real deal.” So, when Luke badly needs to talk one night, she’s ready to listen. He swears her to secrecy and describes how some classmates lured him to a lake house in the woods, supposedly to hang out and drink beers, but instead he was verbally abused, beaten up, and raped at knifepoint. Eventually, he reveals that the rapist was Weston Ames, a boy who walks with a swagger, “rules the school,” and is the principal’s son. Over the coming months, Rebecca struggles with the burden of “being burned alive by silence” and her rage over Luke’s ordeal, finally making a promise to herself: “Weston will pay for what he has done.” Her plan to make this happen could work, but at what cost? In her novel, Kelley draws attention to the plight of male rape victims, but it’s really Rebecca’s story. Her anguish is real, and she’s a compellingly complex and intelligent character. Yet it often seems as if Luke’s trauma is all about her—a terrible, crushing burden that she resents. Although Rebecca sacrifices much in wreaking revenge, she almost seems to appropriate Luke’s experience to do so. And while Luke’s refusal to speak up and report his rape adds to his trauma, his voice is nearly absent—the book paradoxically enacting the silencing it decries.
A searing, dark tale, but the vengeful protagonist overshadows the trauma victim.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1639880065
Page Count: 314
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
An unflinching portrayal of the devastating effects of domestic violence.
After a horrific domestic violence incident, Zoey Ward and her family finally find their footing in Las Vegas only to have their lives overturned by a house fire.
Learning that her father has been recently released from prison, Zoey suspects he had something to do with the blaze. After their lives go up in flames, literally, Zoey along with her mom and her younger siblings, Kate and Cole, flee Las Vegas with the help of her older brother, Will, and his best friend, Tristan. They take refuge in California, where Tristan and his sister welcome them into a world where things seem hopeful and more stable than anything they have ever known. Yet the fear of being hunted down by her father consumes Zoey. The story is narrated from Zoey’s and Tristan’s first-person perspectives, and Gray (Run Away With Me, 2017, etc.) has masterfully captured the uncertainty and terror that come from domestic violence. Tristan and Zoey share a budding romance in which Zoey slowly but surely learns to love and be loved in a nondestructive, healthy way despite her fears and reservations. With everything she has been through, Zoey is the underdog readers will find themselves rooting for. Gray spares no detail in this intense tale. All characters are assumed to be white; Tristan is dyslexic, and there are several queer characters.
An unflinching portrayal of the devastating effects of domestic violence. (Fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4281-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
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