THE SPACE BETWEEN TREES

In this disturbing psychological thriller, a lonely teen seeking attention gets more than she bargained for when her former friend is murdered. Sixteen-year-old Evie has no friends and zero social life except a naïve crush on college-dropout Jonah, who removes dead animals from the woods behind the development where Evie delivers newspapers every Sunday. After Jonah discovers the body of her classmate Zabet in the woods, Evie pretends the girl was her best friend, attracting the interest of Zabet’s real best friend, Hadley. One of the class “bad girls,” Hadley lures Evie into her obsessive campaign to find Zabet’s killer. Too late, Evie realizes the disturbed Hadley has targeted Jonah, with devastating results. Evie tells her dark, troubled story in the first person, present tense, allowing readers to experience her isolation, her schoolgirl attraction to Jonah, her desperate need for attention, her confused response to Hadley’s irrational behavior and, eventually, her raw fear, shock and horror when she learns the truth. A nail-biter packed with palpable suspense and enough violence to suit it for stronger stomachs. (Thriller. 14 & up)