Description:
Sophisticated teens will savor this psychological thriller by the author of Calling Home and In a Dark Wood. Set in the wealthy, self-indulgent Northern California culture that teens may interpret as the dark side of Clueless, Michael Cadnum skewers with deadly accuracy obsessions with body image, exquisite food, and the right clothes--and reveals the unspoken rage of kids who are given everything but attention. Cadnum's oblique but concrete style works to great advantage in this enigmatic story as he uses vivid images to convey experience--sights, sounds, smells, and tastes--but leaves the motivations of characters blank for the reader to fill in. We witness Jennifer jogging at dusk, coolly flinging herself into the thorny blackberry brambles, tumbling down a slope, pausing to slam her hand against a pole, and then continuing up the road to find a police car and report that she has been the victim of an attempted rape. But why has she so carefully constructed this lie? Is it aimed at her beautiful and preoccupied parents, her domineering older sister, the boyfriend who has moved away, or her own emptiness? The deception soon takes over her life, and as a police detective backs her into a corner, Jennifer realizes there is only one way out. (Ages 14 and older) --Patty Campbell
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