Monsters Among Us

September 1, 2020
A college student tries to solve the murder in the wake of her own sexual assault. Catherine, a first semester freshman, comes home reeling from a sexual assault that took place at a college party just before winter break. Shortly after her return, someone close to her is murdered in her Washington hometown. As the police investigation into the murder gets underway, Catherine becomes determined to do her own sleuthing, desperate for answers and an outlet for her trauma. She is helped by Henry, an old friend, and Andrew, a young man who shows up at her house one day to return the coat she left behind in her assailant's room the night of her assault. The circumstances of Andrew's untimely arrival on the scene provoke suspicions--was he involved in Catherine's rape or even the murder? Yet Catherine seems implausibly quick to dismiss these suspicions out of a desire to bring Andrew into the fold due to his close connection to the local police department and thus, clues. The trio's amateur detective work leaves much to be desired as far as plotting is concerned, jumping from hunch to hunch on minimal evidence, with the bulk of their investigation focusing on abuses of power within a local church. The sexual assault narrative is largely sidelined for the sake of a plodding mystery. All major characters are White. Ostensibly a thriller, this debut misses its mark. (Mystery. 15-18)

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October 1, 2020

Gr 9 Up-When Catherine wakes up in a strange dorm room, she knows something terrible has happened. She doesn't remember being sexually assaulted, and she definitely doesn't want to talk about it. She returns home from college and reignites her friendship with Henry, the boy next door. When a beloved neighbor child is killed, Catherine's focus shifts to solving the murder, but she isn't sure who she can trust. Rodden's website calls this novel "a modern retelling of Wuthering Heights," and the author inserts heavy-handed references to Dante's Inferno. While these literary allusions are not fully realized, this is a suspenseful story featuring compelling characters. Catherine and Henry are both white. VERDICT A dark novel featuring a horrific sexual assault and a child murder that falls short of its literary ambitions, but holds readers' attention until the end. Recommended as an additional purchase.-Carly Wiggins Searcy, McNeese State Univ., LA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 7, 2020
Debut novelist Rodden’s Wuthering Heights–inspired thriller explores a modern teenage relationship through the lens of toxic masculinity. After her first semester at college, Catherine, 18, returns to her small Washington town still reeling from a sexual assault that she can’t fully remember, relayed to the reader via brief fragments. Things grow worse when Amy, a girl whom Catherine once nannied, is killed. Desperate to find out who murdered the girl, Catherine teams up with childhood friend Henry and another boy, Andrew, who knows something about Catherine’s assault. As the trio gets closer to finding out who killed Amy, Catherine uncovers secrets—some that Henry has tried to bury—and begins coming to terms with her assault. Though Rodden does not shy away from introducing rape and abuse, Catherine never quite addresses her own trauma, relegating these difficult issues to a subplot in this otherwise entertaining and twisty mystery. Ages 14–up. Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Assoc.