In this multi-narrative thriller from Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall; Vanishing Girls), the past and present, reality and fiction, are woven together, making the reader question which and whose story (if any) is true.
Tweens Brynn McNally, Mia Ferguson and Summer Marks were a close-knit trio, so obsessed with the fantasy novel The Way into Lovelorn that they wrote a sequel to explain its mysterious, unfinished end. Then, Summer was murdered in what appeared to be a ritualistic sacrifice for the Shadow--the antagonist in The Way into Lovelorn--and Brynn and Mia were blamed. Though both girls were deemed innocent in court, their neighbors were unconvinced, shunning Brynn and Mia in the community. Now 18, Brynn escapes the town's whispers by scheming her way into rehab centers, where, she thinks, "I can be whoever I want. And that means, finally, I don't have to be a monster." Mia, 17, hides at home, afraid of the neighbors and convinced she is the cause of her mother's hoarding, which started after the murder and trial.
With the town planning a memorial for the fifth anniversary of Summer's death and with no one ever convicted, Mia tracks down Brynn, determined to figure out, once and for all, who murdered Summer and why. The investigation leads the girls into a spiral of darkness, suspicious of their neighbors, their memories and each other.
The narrative style of Broken Things--alternating narrators and confused timelines, with passages from The Way into Lovelorn and the girls' sequel, Return to Lovelorn, interspersed throughout--creates a suspenseful young adult novel, overflowing with twists and turns. As reality blurs into fantasy, readers will race to the end to get the truth. --Clarissa Hadge, bookstore manager, Trident Booksellers & Cafe, Boston, Mass.