The troublemaker. The overachiever. The cheer captain. The dead girl.
Like every high school in America, Jefferson-Lorne High contains all of the above.
After the shocking murder of senior Emma Baines, three of her classmates are at the top of the suspect list: Claude, the notorious partier; Avery, the head cheerleader; and Gwen, the would-be valedictorian.
Everyone has a label, whether they like it or not--and Emma was always known as a good girl. But appearances are never what they seem. And the truth behind what really happened to Emma may just be lying in plain sight. As long-buried secrets come to light, the clock is ticking to find Emma's killer--before another good girl goes down
Plot:
Emma Baines, the daughter of the police chief, was known to be a good girl. She never partied, always came home after her extracurriculars, and was a top student in all of her AP classes. Only she was not alone at the top, as hot on her heels was Gwen. Both of them were in the running for the Devino Scholarship, which would pay for university, and a one-way ticket out of Jefferson-Lorne forever. When Emma went missing one night, with a video showing someone pushing her in Anna’s Run, a bend in a river with a deadly fast undercurrent, police needed someone to blame. Where Gwen, an obvious consideration was not the only high schooler the police were looking into. Claude Vanderly caught the police’s attention with her issues with the law in the past, along with Avery who was the cheer captain on a team Emma was bringing down. Where each girl fits their stereotype well, there is always more than meets the eyes. As these four form an unlikely group to track down a shockingly likely killer, Emma’s body is not the only one to find itself in Anna’s Run, but for our girls, Emma is going to be the last.
Thoughts:
Claire Bartlett wrote this book about breaking stereotypes and being genuine in a very straightforward way. Each girl had two sides, the one the cops saw and targeted each of them by, and the side that no one knows that really makes their character pop unexpectedly. Like the LGBT+ aspect of the story, as one of the girls is bi, and another is in a closet, and how that affects their day-to-day life in their small rural town. Bartlett kept the writing quick with a fast-moving plot, easy to follow the narrative as it took a closed third-person perspective that follows each of the three girls around. For character development from most to least would be Claude, Gwen and Avery being kind of the worst. Bartlett spent too much time and energy making sure each girl fit a stereotype but “surprise they have more depth” to make that depth worthwhile and something to relate to. It could be the third-person narrative that keeps you from connecting with the girls, but in the end just make their character okay, and basically the same as when they started the novel. Bartlett did a really good job on the “who done it” aspect as we do have a dead Emma to deal with, although no body evidence due to the fast river, and she keeps the classic “the killer was always there in the background”, so you can play the guessing game along with the cops. Which brings us to the worst aspect of the story: the police force. There was something unrealistic in the way they were acting that drew you out of the story. With Emma’s dad being the chief, he should have been taking off the case, and not leading interviews on the girls he thinks killed his only daughter. Showing up to the girls' houses, cuffing them and bringing them down to the station for questioning where they had little to no evidence on them, also seemed a bit bizarre. Overall, this book proves that not all good girls are good, not all bad girls are bad, and the head cheerleader and honor student may have some surprises for you, as all four are capable of catching a killer and bringing justice to their victims.
Just a taste of Cold Comfort by Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett, one of the many exciting stories in Unbound: Adventures in Time and Space! Digital orders and print pre-orders still available until February 15th!
