The first chapters focus on a man who has returned to his childhood
home in Buffalo, NY, to sell the house after his mother dies. It is obvious
right from the first paragraph that some strange things went on in that house
and that there was some sort of abuse present in his family, and by the end of
the first chapter, the reader also knows that this man is a killer. The story
than switches to the point of view of Carley, a teen girl attending the same
Catholic high school, Sacred Sisters, that her mother, Jen, attended in the
same Buffalo neighborhood. Carley is being bullied by her classmates, but she
keeps that a secret from her mother. Soon, Jen and Carley and the rest of the
community are shook up as a series of mysterious deaths occur among the local
teen girls.
At first, I wondered where the suspense was in this novel,
since you know right from the first chapter who the killer is. It turns out
that this is one of those thrillers more concerned with why than with whodunit. It’s a convoluted plot, with
many twists and turns. I did guess at some of the why midway through the book,
but the author still had plenty of surprises in store for me – all the more
surprising because I thought I had things all figured out!
Like most thrillers, there is quite a bit of violence in
this novel, as well as some very disturbing incidents. The story focuses
heavily on social media’s role among today’s teens, with its
ripped-from-the-headlines elements of online bullying and kids seeking online
support from strangers whom they trust too quickly (again, no spoilers here
that the author herself doesn’t reveal early on). It’s a scary story for
parents of modern teens. But it is also a creative and suspenseful story that
kept me in earbuds almost constantly for a few weeks!
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