Review by Booklist Review
During her boyfriend's exclusive college party, Rachel sees her childhood frenemy Alison leave with a stranger. Feeling drunk and petty, Rachel doesn't stop her and instead shouts an insult. The next morning, Alison is dead. Racked with guilt, Rachel is plagued by memories of their tumultuous relationship--the many times she looked away while Alison was bullied or occasions when Rachel did the bullying herself. Keeping her last sighting of Alison a secret, Rachel uses her position at her college newspaper to investigate. Who did Alison leave with? Could Rachel have prevented her death? Russo's (Super Host, 2021) sophomore novel and thriller debut is a thought-provoking and incisive treatise on the sum of a life's choices, the crippling and long-term effects of bullying, and the general dangers of being a woman. Inspired by her own experiences in Maine and as a journalist, Russo also pays tribute to the true story of a decade-old murder. Recommended for readers who enjoy intense suspense novels with unreliable narrators, such as those by Stacey Willingham and Paula Hawkins.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Russo's melancholy sophomore effort (after Super Host) is an earnest meditation on teen angst and adult regret centered on the entwined lives of two childhood friends. From the ages of six to 12, Rachel Nardelli and Alison Petrucci were best friends. That changed when they entered junior high in staunchly middle-class Waterbury, Maine, where being rich was a "cardinal sin," and the Petruccis were "far wealthier than anyone else." Rachel split from Alison, launching a rivalry that continues into their days at Denman College and lingers until the moment Alison is found dead on the banks of Waterbury's Pleasant Pond, following a boozy party hosted by Rachel's boyfriend. The pond happens to be the site of the rupture between the young women, and when Rachel finds out it's where Alison died, it sends her mind whirling back to her own cruelty, cowardice, and manipulation over the past decade. A journalist for the university newspaper, Rachel reports on Alison's murder, wading through her own guilt in the process. Less a straightforward mystery than a tender character study, Russo's elegiac novel offers moving considerations of forgiveness and the often thorny nature of female friendship. Unfortunately, the pacing is a little too shaky to allow those insights to resonate as deeply as they might. It's a mixed bag. Agent: Nicole Aragi, Aragi, Inc. (July)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A college student is forced to face past cruelties and mistakes when a childhood friend is murdered. Rachel Nardelli, a senior at Denman College, feels stuck and uncertain about her future. She's isolated herself from her fellow journalism students, committed instead to her toxic boyfriend, Cam, who flirts with freshman girls during the epic parties he throws in his dorm room while Rachel drinks to the point of blacking out. One night she thinks she sees Alison Petrucci, a friend from her childhood, leaving one of Cam's parties; when her former friend's body is discovered the next morning, Rachel is forced to reveal some of her darkest, most shameful adolescent memories as the journalism team investigates. The novel unfolds through these two timelines: the present day, as the journalism students look into Alison's murder with the help of Michaela Stannard, a sympathetic faculty member; and the past, where we learn about how Rachel and Alison became best friends--and then how the friendship was picked apart and destroyed. There is a mystery here, but the book is more truly an exploration of adolescent friendship, bullying, and social pressures, plus the guilt that follows these broken relationships. Secondarily, it's a condemnation of male misbehavior and entitlement. And thirdly, it's a story of how a young writer finds her path with the right guidance and support. Rachel doesn't always come across as the most relatable or sympathetic protagonist, but she is shatteringly human, and in that authenticity lies her appeal. "Be bold, write about the things you care about, not just the things you think you should," Stannard challenges Rachel in the end. And so, Rachel--and Russo--do. Celebrates and empowers the women who bear witness to injustice and tell about it. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
