All the Rage

Starred review from March 2, 2015
As Romy Grey enters her senior year, she learns firsthand that the town of Grebe does not take kindly to girls who accuse the sheriff’s son of rape. Romy’s only escape from the brutal torments she suffers daily at school is her waitressing job, far enough from Grebe that no one there knows what happened to her—including her coworker Leon, whose unassuming romantic interest she hesitantly begins to return. But when Romy attends the town’s infamous senior party and wakes up on the side of the road with the night an awful blank behind her, her life comes crashing down anew: her former best friend Penny has vanished. The book takes a while to gain momentum, but Penny’s disappearance gives direction and purpose to Romy’s harrowing emotional journey as she struggles to reconcile her own fate with Penny’s. The narrative never shies from its charged subject, and Summers (This Is Not a Test) portrays the unforgiving mind-set of Grebe’s citizens with grim realism. Through its resolution is neither tidy nor simple, Romy’s powerful story creates a space for change. Ages 14–up. Agent: Amy Tipton, Signature Literary Agency.