Age of Consent

May 30, 2016
The latest from Leimbach (The Man from Saigon) is a nuanced portrayal of a mother and daughter at once linked and divided by a ferociously exploitative man. In 1978, Maryland disc jockey Craig Kirtz pursues a friendship with June, an insecure widow, to gain access to her 13-year-old daughter, Bobbie. June remains oblivious as her daughter sinks deeper and deeper into a secret life shaped by Craig’s sexual demands, emotional manipulation, and drug-fueled volatility. Bobbie can’t extricate herself until a dramatic combination of events on a single September night sets her escape in motion. Making a new life for herself in California after she runs away, she refuses to return home or see her mother—now Craig’s wife—for 30 years. But when she learns that Craig has been tried and acquitted for molesting another teenager, she feels compelled to initiate legal proceedings that she hopes will stop him for good. As she reencounters Craig, her mother, and Dan Gregory, the beau she left behind when she ran away, Bobbie confronts both her past and her future. Treating June’s perspective as richly as Bobbie’s, the novel brings memorable depth to issues often oversimplified; Leimbach’s scenes are convincing, whether they portray harrowing abuse or subtle moments of healing.

May 15, 2016
An unflinching look at sexual abuse from an author who isn't afraid of difficult subjects. When Bobbie ran away from home at 15, she intended to go back--as soon as the man who was molesting her moved out of her widowed mother's house. Then Bobbie's mom married Bobbie's rapist, and Bobbie just kept running. Thirty years later, she returns to Maryland for one reason: to bring charges against the man who abused her. Having written popular novels about autism (Daniel Isn't Talking, 2006) and early death (Dying Young, 1989), Leimbach is no stranger to tough topics. As she shifts back and forth in time--alternating between 1978 and 2008--she offers a horribly believable depiction of a child ensnared by a predator. In giving a voice to Bobbie's mother as well as Bobbie, she foregoes the urge to simply blame a woman who failed to protect her daughter. However, this novel isn't quite as deft as some of the writer's other work. At several critical points, the plot depends on coincidence and actions that strain credulity. For example, on Bobbie's first night back in Maryland, as she's waiting to testify against her abuser, her mother shows up at the isolated guesthouse where she's staying. Not only does her mother--and, most likely, her mother's husband--know where she is, but Bobbie also has reason to suspect that her mother got word of her whereabouts from the innkeeper. Bobbie doesn't even consider finding other, safer accommodations. This rather astonishing lapse in judgment only makes sense in that it's necessary for setting up a climactic scene. Some readers may admire the way in which Leimbach essentially abandons the court case that provides her story's scaffolding--the criminal justice system doesn't always provide a satisfying conclusion--while others are likely to find that the author has broken a narrative contract. Devastatingly powerful scenes trapped in a rickety plot.

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June 15, 2016

In 1978, 13-year-old Bobbie begins a secret relationship with 28-year-old Craig, a disc jockey for a local radio station, a relationship Bobbie feels helpless to stop, especially after Craig takes up with her mother, June, just to get closer to Bobbie. Fast-forward 30 years, and Bobbie's lifelong goal of keeping her past hidden comes to an end when she finds out that Craig has done the same thing to other young girls. Bobbie returns home to testify against Craig. While their history is revealed in front of the court, Bobbie and June must make sense of prior events while dealing with the pain they endured over the past three decades years. Leimbach's (Daniel Isn't Talking) novel is an account of estrangement between mother and daughter and the toll abuse can take on a family. Told partly through flashback and partly through court testimony, this unhappy tale is woven with pain and fractured relationships. VERDICT Although the dialog is formal and the characters are not well developed, the story will keep readers turning pages until the bitter end. Though not for everyone, fans of Jodi Picoult may enjoy. [See Prepub Alert, 2/1/16.]--Kristen Calvert Nelson, Marion Cty. P.L. Syst., Ocala, FL

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2016
It starts with a voice on the radioCraig Kirtz, a charismatic late-night DJ on a Maryland rock station in the late 1970s. June Russell, a lonely young widow, listens to his show every night, her fandom stoked by his thoughtful, in-person attention to both herself and her daughter, Bobbie. In the beginning, Craig's attention made Bobbie feel special, but unfortunately that attention has turned into sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. One night, Bobbie finds $1,000 hidden behind the bed in a seedy motel room, and when Craig discovers the windfall, he demands his cut, which leads to a grisly crime and a horrific car crash. Assuming that Craig is dead, Bobbie flees. Thirty years later, she discovers that Craig is alive and was recently acquitted of sexually abusing a teenage girl. Bobbie decides to press chargesa difficult decision that forces her to relive her teenage abuse. Leimbach is known for tackling tough subjects in an unflinching manner, and this novel is no exception. Bobbie's story is often difficult to read, but the descriptions of abuse don't come across as gratuitous or overdone. The alternating chapters, told from June's perspective, show how insidious predators can beher denial of the truth continues even when she is directly confronted with the facts. Readers who enjoy issue-driven women's fictionand who can handle the dark subject matterwill be moved by Bobbie's story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)