October 24, 2016
The discovery of the body of high school senior Hattie Hoffman, found stabbed in an abandoned barn in rural Pine Valley, Minn., kicks off this engaging, character-driven crime novel from Mejia (The Dragon Keeper), who examines the events leading up to the murder through three narrators—Sheriff Del Goodman, a Hoffman family friend; Peter Lund, a high school teacher who tries to escape his faltering marriage through an affair with Hattie; and Hattie herself. A natural actor, Hattie consciously plays roles to please other people. When she falls in love, though, she decides to be honest about her identity and desires—with devastating consequences. The story occasionally drags, and the murder’s resolution seems almost like an afterthought, but Mejia adroitly charts Hattie’s development. Peter, initially sympathetic, becomes cloying, while Del—a Vietnam vet who enjoys fishing and the undemanding company of his neighbors’ cat—emerges as the most compelling and rich of the trio. Readers will look forward to further work from this talented author. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Gernert Company.
November 1, 2016
A teenage girl's murder splits apart a rural Minnesota community, uncovering not only her secrets, but also those of the town.Like so many teenagers living in small towns, 18-year-old Hattie Hoffman wanted out of Pine Valley. Specifically, she wanted to go to New York City, where she envisioned acting on Broadway. Instead, she ended up stabbed to death in a barn weeks before graduation after a rave performance as Lady Macbeth in that Scottish play. Mejia, making her adult debut after The Dragon Keeper (2012), a book for teens, alternates perspective, building up to the day Hattie dies in Hattie's own voice and in the days and weeks after, from the points of view of the cookie-cutter town sheriff and the obvious suspect, Hattie's English teacher, as he stumbles through his predictably crumbling marriage. Hattie is a master manipulator, so much so that it's often difficult to believe she's only 18; when the flirtation with teacher Peter Lund, which begins online, blossoms into a full-blown affair, it's frustrating that the adult appears to be the one for whom the author is trying to elicit more sympathy rather than the high school student with whom he's having sex. Sheriff Del Goodman functions less as a character and more as a vehicle to move the story along: someone has to solve Hattie's murder, so it may as well be him. In the year leading up to her death, as Hattie prepares her grand exit, her death seems inevitable not owing to the way she lived, but because Mejia stays so far within what are safe narrative boundaries. There's an attempt at profundity here that falls flat, leaving instead a story we've seen before of a pretty girl who winds up dead and the usual cast of suspects who may have killed her.
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July 1, 2017
Eighteen-year-old Hattie has it made: a loving family, excellent grades, a good job, a wonderful boyfriend, a lead role in the school play, and plans to head off to New York after graduation. When she is found murdered one Saturday in April of her senior year, everyone is shocked. Hattie's father's best friend, Del, is the county sheriff in their southern Minnesota town, and as he investigates the murder, it soon becomes clear that Hattie was not who she appeared to be. Facts about her life and relationships are revealed bit by bit in this story told from three points of view: Hattie's, Del's, and Hattie's English teacher Peter's. Taut writing, plot twists and turns, and fully developed characters all combine for a gripping thriller that will have readers on the edge of their seats. VERDICT Fans of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train will snap up this book.-Sarah Flowers, formerly at Santa Clara County Public Library, CA
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