When her gay best friend is brutally beaten in contemporary Black Creek, N.C., a withdrawn teen tracks his assailant. Different from other kids in their ignorant, poverty-stricken, backwoods community, 16-year-old Cat and 17-year-old Patrick have been “kindred spirits” since childhood. Growing up with a drunken father, a well-meaning aunt and an older brother she no longer trusts, Cat was “full of light and life” until one of her brother’s “gay-bashing redneck” friends “messed” with her. For three years, Cat has blinded herself to everyone, including Patrick, convinced her “entire existence meant nothing.” But when Patrick’s beaten and left for dead at the convenience store where he works, a gasoline nozzle protruding from his mouth, an angry, guilt-ridden Cat knows she must open her eyes and “look straight into the ugliness and find out who hurt him.” Cat describes her relentless, determined investigation in the first person, proceeding day by day over a period of two and a half weeks, allowing readers to gradually absorb the complex, twisted relationships, shocking evidence, disturbing memories and gritty atmosphere. Motivated to solve the horrific hate crime, Cat eventually uncovers the truth in a cliffhanging climax in which she confronts fear, discovers that love is stronger than hate and truly “shines.” Raw, realistic and compelling. (Fiction. 14 & up)
Pub Date: April 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8109-8417-2
Page Count: 376
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
Quite possibly the best teen novel featuring a girl questioning her sexuality written in years.
Big-town girl stuck in a small-town world full of lies falls for another girl.
Astrid's parents moved both her and her sister away from their New York City home years ago to a small town symbolically called Unity Valley. Since then her mom has drunk the society Kool-Aid, and her dad takes mental vacations in the garage to smoke weed. Astrid doesn't feel like she fits in anywhere. Two friends keep her sane: her closeted BFF, Kristina, and Dee, a star hockey player she met while working for a local catering company. Sparks fly between Astrid and Dee, causing Astrid to feel even more distanced and confused. Meanwhile, Kristina and her boyfriend/beard Justin use Astrid as cover for their own same-sex sweethearts, adding more fuel to the fire. King has created an intense, fast-paced, complex and compelling novel about sexuality, politics and societal norms that will force readers outside their comfort zones. The whole town—even the alleged gay characters—buy into the Stepford-like ideal, and King elegantly uses Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" to help readers understand life inside and outside of the box. Only Astrid knows what she wants. She’s in love with Dee, but she's not sure if she’s a lesbian. She’s ignoring all of the labels and focusing on what she feels.
Quite possibly the best teen novel featuring a girl questioning her sexuality written in years. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-316-19468-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
An immersive atmosphere and fearless protagonist outweigh the somewhat overstuffed mystery.
A story of friendship and resilience in the darkest of times.
Every summer, Paige Redmond, her parents, and her younger sister stay with the family of her best friend, Audrey Covington, at their luxurious vacation home in Clearwater Ridge. Fun, leisurely days filled with sunshine and rafting await. And Paige is eager to finally get sparks flying with Dylan, Audrey’s handsome, competitive swimmer older brother. At Dylan’s friend Tripp Shaw’s annual Summer Kickoff party, Audrey becomes preoccupied with a previous fling, leaving Paige and Dylan to finally connect. Over the course of the summer, 16-year-old Audrey grows distant—and one night in early August, she never comes home, and her family reports her missing. The following summer, Paige’s family decides to continue the tradition and join the Covingtons. Audrey’s case has gone cold, and Paige and Dylan’s relationship has become awkward and strained, but the hidden cell phone Paige finds brings the two back together, and they start investigating what really happened to Audrey that night. The narrative is filled with a few too many red herrings and an overabundance of twists and turns, but Paige’s nonstop determination to find the truth and her underlying need to absolve her and Dylan’s guilty consciences over not preventing what happened to Audrey keep the story flowing. Dylan and Paige’s sweet relationship brings a much-needed reprieve to the story’s darker aspects. Characters are cued white.
An immersive atmosphere and fearless protagonist outweigh the somewhat overstuffed mystery. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781728251097
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
