Brother/Sister

May 2, 2011
Olin (Killing Britney) never quite approaches the lurid level of taboo that the title, tagline ("Just give them a chance to explain"), and cover art suggest, but an escalating crime spree and two unreliable narrators ought to hold readers' attention. Siblings Will and Asheley are both outcasts, although Asheley, with her surfer boyfriend and membership on the softball team, is clearly the better adjusted of the two. Their alcoholic mother's frequent trips to rehab don't help their social status, and it's during one of these stints that they decide to throw a party. When Asheley's boyfriend, Craig, assaults her, Will steps in, with fatal consequences. They cover up their actionsâand the consequences of that choice, as well as Will's escalating and creepy jealousy over his sister, lead to more danger for the siblings and those around them. Olin adeptly captures two distinct and occasionally contradictory teenage voices, subtly establishing their untrustworthiness, but neither the book's setup (two teens providing hours of minutiae to Mexican police) nor a last-sentence twist serves the story well. Ages 14âup.

May 1, 2011

When Ashley and Will's violently drunk-ass mom is institutionalized by her strange, stoner boyfriend for the umpteenth time, the two siblings are left to fend for themselves.

Will is a sensitive, protective, outsider type with a penchant for golf clubs and harbors a serious anger-control problem; his knockout sister Ashley plays softball and tends to fall for douchebags who are more interested in getting into her pants than into her heart. Alone and left to their own devices, the two throw a house party that quickly moves from a drunken bash to a brawl to bloodshed. Melodrama reigns in the first 100 or so pages, and Olin packs on the "oh-no-she-didn't" moments heavier than an episode of Jerry Springer, which teen readers will adore. The tensions that arise are obviously forced, but readers won't care as the body count soars—fans of Olin's previous effort, Killing Britney (2004), will know he spares no one. Listening to the alternating voices of the siblings, astute readers might find themselves wondering whether this narrative conceit is a medium for confession or if it's simply moving the plot along.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2011

Gr 9 Up-Asheley and Will are essentially alone in the world. Their alcoholic mother is in rehab, and her pothead boyfriend is an occasional (and hungry) presence, showing up only at mealtimes. In alternating first-person chapters, the teens tell the story of how their unstable family contributes to Will's unraveling-and murder of three people. Both of their narratives take the form of confessions to the police. They are monologues peppered with the phrases "I don't know" and "you know?" The writing is strong and the voices realistic, but it may take readers several chapters to adjust to this disjointed style. Early on, Will asserts that he will "explain" everything that happened so readers can understand why he killed. However, when they learn that his sexual obsession with his sister is the motivation for the crimes, most readers will feel even more alienated from him. Will is too deranged a character to be a hero, and remains as enigmatic at the end as in the beginning. Throughout the book, Asheley is portrayed as a victim of circumstance, although her final departure from Will is a victory worth cheering for. Adults won't find many surprises in the plot, but teens might find the twists shocking. This is a book about a world as raw and ugly as can be-which, for some teenagers, will be its appeal.-Jess deCourcy Hinds, Bard High School Early College Queens, Long Island City, NY

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2011
Grades 8-12 Why are twin brother and sister Will and Asheley in Mexico being interrogated by the police? And what do they have to do with the dead body that's been found near their home in Morro Bay, California? Readers will find out as the teenage twins tell their story in alternating chapters, a story that becomes increasingly dark as the number of dead bodies mounts and Will and Asheley's voices grow increasingly desperate. Since Olin reveals the ending right at the beginning, the subsequent story is less a mystery than an exploration of psychological suspense. Although the novel largely succeeds on those termswhich excuses the fact that there are no sympathetic characters herethe plot is sometimes meandering, and the characters are more operatic than subtle. Nevertheless, readers with a taste for noir stories with sociopathic elements will certainly be bowled over by this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)