Great book!

This really is a terrific book. The writer knows how to create a plot, suspense and draws some well-thought out characters. When Cat's former best friend, Patrick, is the vicitim of a "gay bashing" crime, she decides it's time to come out of her shell and discover who did this to him. Good messages about the need for tolerance and understanding and a strong female character who stands up for herself.

A good teen read-- not great literature but a dark mystery taking place amid rural poverty, meth addictions, gay bashing, coming of age, hope amoung the hopeless, friendships, secrets, lies, rape and abuse. 17 year old Cat is entering her senior year. She has isolated herself from everyone --including her supportive friends-- because she was sexually abused by a local boy from a powerful family (a theme that runs throught the work). She is compelled to reengage, however, when her formerly best friend, Patrick, is found comatose and near death strung up to a gas pump with the nozzel shoved down his throat and SUCK ON THIS carved into his torso.While the church ladies blame the victim and the sheriff looks for gay bashing outsiders, Cat begins her own investigation, certain the answer is to be found in the local red neck posse and friends who,like all bullies, operate in plain view of the adults who never see a thing. i like the mystery and the setting and the inclusion of gay characters. it is good teen lit but not great-- i solved the mystery long before the book ended and the ending is very very neat and too happy for the rest of the book (left me wondering if publisher or focus group told her to lighten it up at the end.) i am also disturbed by the relationship she ends up having with her abuser. He is not a monster and a little unhappy with the redemption and acceptance of him or of her abuse-- i will think on this for a while. let me know how you see it. still, i will recommend with caveats.

Very good book- sort of scary and sad, though.

I started reading this book thinking it was going to be one of those that are all hype and no substance. Boy, how wrong I was! The book is an absolute treasure. The writing draws you in and makes you an observer and almost a participant from a safe distance, the plot is at its heart a whodunnit but that's just the vehicle to deliver pearls of wisdom and understanding about the human heart, gay and straight, rich and poor, and the effect a slow economy has on rural areas. It was one of those books that made me sad when I finished because I wish it had kept going on and on. Definitely recommend this one

GREAT BOOK

This book was great i really enjoyed it.

Surprisingly good - heart-achingly captures the poor rural America we so often overlook or caricature. I love that we meet the characters as characters first and it's only slowly through the novel that we come to realize that almost all of the characters come from deeply impoverished and troubled backgrounds, aka "white trash" as another character calls them (and the book does a good job of making you squirm a little bit at that, without preaching). Only weak point was at the very end - everything wrapped up a little too neatly and cleanly to be entirely believable for an otherwise surprisingly nuanced book.

Absolute perfection.

This book approaches Literature, too good to be classified using the Teen label. It reads like the little sister of Elizabeth Berg's book, "True to Form." The writing is not quite as mature, but it is lyrical and has a depth to it that surprised me. HIghly recommended.