This Is How It Ends

August 18, 2014
With his father dead and his mother chronically ill, 17-year-old Riley thinks he’ll never escape poverty in rural Vermont, so when he and four friends find a pair of binoculars that show the future, he’s shocked to see himself going to college. Even more surprisingly, he’ll be dating his secret crush—his best friend Trip’s girlfriend. Brainy Riley’s friendship with jock Trip is marked by deep trust but also by neglect and jealousy. As others’ visions come true, including his friend Natalie’s premonition of her abusive father’s murder, Riley and his friends are forced to grow up quickly, and the bright future Riley saw comes at a shocking price. The left-field explanation of the mystery of the binoculars is the weakest part of the book, and the resolution lacks the emotional impact it aims for. But Nadol (The Vision) otherwise delivers a smartly paced, engaging novel that evokes and explores the ambiguities of friendship, while featuring a detailed, immersive setting and characters—like Riley’s racecar-driving friend Tannis, or tough yet vulnerable Natalie—who jump off the page. Ages 14–up. Agent: Melissa Sarver, Folio Literary Management

September 15, 2014
A claustrophobically small Vermont town is an effective setting for this suspenseful supernatural thriller. A group of friends discovers a pair of binoculars in a cave one night when they're out drinking in the woods, and each of them but one sees strange images in them that they can't get out of their minds. When the most dramatic of these visions-a murder-comes true, the five teens panic, trying at once to uncover who the killer is as well as what's going on with the binoculars and the images they saw. Narrator Riley is a likable, intelligent protagonist, and his attraction to Sarah, who is his best friend's girlfriend, spins an extra thread of anxiety in to what is already a tension-filled thriller. The rest of the group is similarly well-drawn, each of them distinct and with his or her own secrets, and their bond is very believable, particularly in light of the difficult home lives several of them endure. While the eventual reveal of how the binoculars function is a bit sparse on details, their origin is truly a surprise. Atmospheric and carefully plotted, this one's hard to put down. (Thriller. 14-18)

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August 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-When five Vermont teens meet in the woods one cold night, they plan to drink a few beers and hang out. When one of the teens finds a pair of binoculars in a nearby cave, the lighthearted get-together takes a decidedly sinister turn. As the they take turns peering through the lens, each sees a haunting vision of his or her future. At first, the friends dismiss the visions as hallucinations, but as the weeks pass, the protagonists discover that the visions are becoming reality. Told from the point of view of Riley, the story keeps readers guessing as vision after vision turns into reality. When Riley looks through the binoculars, he sees himself in bed with his best friend's girlfriend, Sarah. Riley has a crush on Sarah, but he would never betray his best friend, or would he? When Natalie looks through the binoculars, she sees her father's murder. A few days later, when her father is found dead, fingers point to Natalie, but did she do it? Nadol weaves a tales of taut suspense and tender new romance as the teens struggle to resist the fulfilment of the visions, perhaps encouraging readers to think about the implications of personal responsibility and destiny. Each of the teens are plausible characters, likable and flawed at the same time. The lone sci-fi element-the binoculars-is a credible inclusion to the realistic, modern-day setting.-Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2014
Grades 10-1 Riley and four of his high-school friends, working-class townies in a trendy Vermont ski town, go drinking in the mountains one weekend and stumble upon a pair of binoculars that shows them each a strange image. It is unclear whether these are images of the future or hallucinations until one teen sees her visionher father dead in a pool of bloodcome true a few days later. Riley and his friends begin to investigate the murder, though they are not all coming clean about what they each saw, including some clues to the case. And if one future comes true, will all of them? Though the beginning is a bit sluggish and Riley seems a little undefined, Nadol's latest is a thrilling combination of sci-fi and crime fiction, helped along by the tension building around everyone's secret knowledge of the future. Though Riley and his friends are in high school, their worldview is considerably more adultthey struggle with finances, broken families, abusive parents, and, of course, murder. Spooky and haunting, with a grounding touch of melancholy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)