Wrecked

August 29, 2016
Consent workshops and crisis hotlines are part of today’s college experience, as are arguments over culpability for sexual assault and whether college administrators can handle these investigations. Padian (Out of Nowhere) avoids oversimplifying or stereotyping as she explores one such assault and its aftermath, telling a story that combines the most painful, everyday, and emotionally intimate aspects of college life. While it is Jenny, a shy first-year student, who is raped while at her first college party, Padian focuses on her roommate, Haley, and one of the accused rapist’s friends, Richard. Alternating third-person chapters let readers see their feelings on the developing situation and each other as their mutual attraction grows, even as they are drawn deeper into the investigation. Though Jenny and her pain can sometimes feel overshadowed by the separate romantic thread, Padian’s expansion of the story to include friends and family lends it visceral realism, allowing readers to imagine themselves in a similar scenario without asking them to envision themselves as either victim or perpetrator. Ages 14–up. Agent: Edite Kroll, Edite Kroll Literary.

Narrator Ali Ahn's character voices for this YA novel are problematic. Freshman year at college can be a first opportunity to explore boundaries away from home. For some teens, like Jenny in WRECKED, the result is traumatic. Jenny is sexually assaulted at an alcohol-fueled party. Her roommate, Haley, is entering a relationship with Richard, a friend of the accused rapist; both girls see a different truth, and it's possible neither reflects what really happened. Ahn's voices for female characters are much stronger than her male voices; while Haley is convincing, Jenny comes across as too timid and feminist Callie sounds too sophisticated and brittle for a college senior. Among the male characters, Richard has a trademark gravelly rasp, and Jordan is given an extreme and distracting Southern drawl on the strength of a single reference in the text. C.M.A. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine


P.I. Regan Reilly and her husband, Jack, are trying to celebrate their first wedding anniversary in peace, despite the storm-ravaged conditions on Cape Cod. But when reclusive neighbor Adele Hopkins goes missing, all chances for a romantic weekend vanish. The ingredients for a suspenseful story are here, but Clark's numerous implausible plotlines and huge cast of characters serve to create more confusion than suspense. Katherine Kellgren's richly expressive voice works well for much of the narration, thanks to her versatility in conveying a variety of characters. Too often, however, her delivery is overly expressive. Perhaps she is trying to create characters where only caricatures exist. Especially ineffective is her rendering of the Brewer sisters as stereotypical North Jersey busybodies. L.X. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine