Preservationist

August 12, 2013
Kramon follows his debut, the coming-of-age novel Finny, with a light thriller centered on a love triangle. Julia Stilwell, a freshman at Pennsylvania’s Stradler College who’s grappling with the aftermath of a recent family tragedy, is flattered by the attentions of 39-year-old Sam Blount, an employee at the college snack bar. Meanwhile, she has an uneasy relationship with a fellow student, shy Marcus Broley, who becomes jealous when she tells him about Sam. After a serial killer strikes on campus, Julia has to wonder if either Sam or Marcus could be responsible—and soon both give her reason for concern. Marcus starts to stalk Sam, some of whose reactions to Julia’s innocent actions suggest repressed rage. The close reader will early on guess the more probable suspect, and since the three primary characters too often behave in accordance with the needs of the plot, the capable narrative unfolds with altogether too few surprises. Agent: Ayesha Pande, Ayesha Pande Literary.

September 15, 2013
Arriving at college with heavy emotional baggage, Julia picks the wrong guy to unload on: cue the slow build to mayhem. Julia Stilwell has issues. Though a freshman at Stradler College in Pennsylvania, she is still recovering from a terrible car accident; she's not all there. When the awkward Marcus starts to flirt, she doesn't know quite how to respond. When Sam, the guy behind the counter of the school snack bar, shows up at a party Julia received an invitation to, they fall into something. Marcus has suspicions about Sam, but to Julia, he sounds bitter, not prescient. Julia and Sam stumble along, and Julia loses the last bit of good sense she has. She can't talk to anyone. Her parents are a mess, suffering from the same tragedy that weighs on her. She can't connect with her fun-loving roommate Leanette. This predicament leads to a classic thriller trope Kramon handles with skill. What distinguishes this book is Kramon's willingness to put predator and prey on almost equal footing: The predator is inhumane but not inhuman. A respectable thriller. Don't be surprised if the movie appears at a multiplex near you.

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September 1, 2013
After a tragic accident completely demolishes her former life, Julia Stilwell desperately welcomes the new beginning that college offers. A self-proclaimed oddball unaccustomed to male attention, Julia predictably bungles her breakup with Marcus when handsome, mysterious Sam peers through her defenses and sparks unexpected chemistry. Sam and Julia's romance, revealed in alternating narratives, struggles under the mountain of baggage they carry between them. And, when a rapist begins violently attacking students on campus, Julia's sense that she's being stalked introduces a layer of paranoia. Jilted Marcus claims to be looking out for Julia when he angrily warns her that something's off about Sam, but the couple wonders if he's the threatening caller who accuses Sam of the rapes. The Preservationist effectively mixes literary thriller and realistic horror, as characters' secrets are revealed with increasing creepiness, and the story moves from a series of deceptively mundane events to unbearable foreboding as the three suspiciously circle one other, landing the reader in a happily torturous state of anxiety.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)