Just Get Home

March 1, 2021
One night, a horrific earthquake rips apart the city of Los Angeles and brings two strangers together to accomplish their common goal: just get home. Dessa is a single mom on her way home from a night out with friends when the earth shakes, leaving her standing amid the destruction all around her. Teenager Beegie couldn't care less about getting back to her abusive foster home, but when she is attacked in the wake of the quake, she needs protection from others who might do her harm. Together they team up to try to get back to Dessa's young daughter, though they have no assurance she has survived the quake. This story is told with artful suspense-building, with main characters who are heavily defined by the traumatic events of each of their pasts. The duo's journey across the sprawling metropolis will compel the reader, and the development of Beegie and Dessa's relationship brings redemption to a story set in a very harsh and unforgiving world.

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March 19, 2021

Dessa is a young, white, single mom of a toddler. Beegie is a Black teenager who is surviving the foster care system as best she can. When Dessa joins her friends for a girls' night out, Foley (Hugo & Rose) places her and Beegie in the center of a massive earthquake that hits Los Angeles; buildings crumble, roads collapse, looters come out, and trouble is on every corner. Dessa witnesses Beegie being raped, but phone service is out, and assistance is nowhere to be found. Beegie disappears before Dessa can help her, so Dessa starts walking home, determined to get to her daughter. On her way back, Dessa is attacked; this time it's Beegie who shows up, and she saves Dessa. The two women warriors encounter one horrifying scene after another, as their journey forces them to overcome impossible odds and incredible difficulties. Because of their shared trauma, they forge a friendship. VERDICT A natural disaster is a terrifying backdrop for this briskly paced yet emotional novel, and readers will be hard-pressed to put the book down before reaching its satisfying ending. This title will appeal to readers who enjoyed The River at Night, by Erica Ferencik, or One by One, by Ruth Ware.--Stacy Alesi, Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Lib., Lynn Univ., Boca Raton, FL

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