Cryer's Cross -- Lisa McMann
When a young woman goes missing in tiny Cryer's Cross, Montana, the entire town turns out to search for her. And it doesn't go unnoticed that a new family -- with a glowering teenaged son -- has just moved to town.
Kendall Fletcher is no exception to the searching or the noticing, and she's more invested than other onlookers: She doesn't know if she should chalk the related voices she's started to hear up to her OCD... or to something else.
Add to that the new boy's first words to her:
"Stay out of my way, then, if you don't want to get hurt."
and she knows that she needs to ferret out the secrets hidden in her town: Her sanity depends on it.
Although Cryer's Cross has a slower, more subtle build than the Wake trilogy, it'll go over well with fans. Kendall is similar to Janie in that she's a bit isolated (in a different way -- she's friendly with people, but she's the only girl in her teeny, tiny class, and she's pretty reserved), which makes her easy to identify with*, and makes her habit of talking to herself more believable.
Kendall's OCD feels authentic**, and the schoolroom scenes where she grapples with it are especially compelling. The fact that SPOILER it turns out to be a source of strength END SPOILER was a really nice twist, but the love interest's extensive personal experience with it was a bit of a stretch, and some of the conversation occasionally sounds like the characters are speaking DSM, and thus, is sometimes info-dump-y.
It's a short book (230 pages), and there isn't much meat -- not that every book necessarily has to be rich of story and character -- as I read it, I kept thinking that it was a bit like a grittier Goosebumps (the basic plot line***, I'm sure, contributed to that feeling), written for an older audience. (Believe it or not, I really don't mean that in a bad way. Just as a descriptor.) It's a quick, minorly-spooky, enjoyable-if-forgettable read, and it won't be hurting for an audience.
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*Unless I'm misremembering: What YA doesn't feel isolated in some way?
**I have no personal experience to base that opinion on -- the Acknowledgements, though, mention that Lisa McMann's daughter has OCD.
***SPOILER: Possessed school desk!
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Previously:
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Book source: ILLed through my library.