Before I Let Go

October 16, 2017
Nijkamp’s reflective examination on love and returning home pairs well with the haunting environment of Lost Creek, a tiny Alaskan town where strange things are known to happen. Corey and her family left Lost Creek seven months ago, and it’s been hard to leave behind her best friend, Kyra. Both girls grew up in Lost Creek, but Kyra’s mental illness drove a wedge between her and other residents, with Corey caught in the middle. Just before Corey’s planned trip back to Lost Creek, Kyra is found dead, leaving Corey just five days to uncover what happened and say goodbye to her friend. Told through a combination of flashbacks and present-day passages, this complex coming-of-age tale is hindered only by a repetitive fixation on Corey’s guilt and her musings on the concept of home. But this intense focus on Corey’s thoughts and feelings lets readers immerse themselves in her pain and her drive for answers; Nijkamp (This Is Where It Ends) has an uncommon talent for drawing readers deep into the psyches of her characters. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer Udden, Barry Goldblatt Literary.

October 15, 2017
Seven months after Corey left her hometown of Lost Creek, Alaska, and her best friend, Kyra, behind, she returns, grief-stricken, to learn what caused Kyra's death. Expecting the comfort of shared grief over Kyra's loss, Corey's instead treated with coldness and suspicion. Kyra's parents house her with discomfort, and the more Corey probes for answers, the more opposition she faces and the more isolated she becomes. Their friendship had been strained by Kyra's intensifying bipolar disorder, their different ways of interpreting the world, and Kyra's unrequited romantic love for Corey, yet their bond endured until Corey moved away. Thereafter, Kyra painted obsessively--vibrant murals and vivid paintings in town and at the abandoned hot springs resort where she spent her last months. The community expresses new reverence for Kyra and her art, which they view as revitalizing the community's fortunes. Mysteries proliferate: what accounts for the abundant fresh salmonberry flowers in January? Corey's isolation is compounded by both the isolated Alaska setting and a sense of horrors hidden in plain sight. What's missing is a connection between the two girls' complicated friendship and the archetypal horror narrative that fuels the tale's compulsive readability. The author's avoidance of clear references to Alaska's Native heritage belies the thematic insistence on the power of storytelling to shape the world. Settlers stole the land, readers are told, but the story of this thievery remains untold. Intriguingly spooky but never quite coheres. (Suspense. 12-16)

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December 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-Corey left Lost Creek for boarding school as her mother relocated outside of Alaska. She hated leaving her best friend behind. Kyra's bipolar disorder kept her from being accepted by the small community. Corey found a place of belonging at her new school, so much so that she stopped answering Kyra's letters. When she learns that Kyra killed herself, she flies back to Lost Creek to learn more about Kyra's death. Corey refuses to believe her friend would take her own life. The community doesn't speak to her. Stunned that everyone treats her as an outsider now, she digs for the truth. This sophomore novel from Nijkamp will haunt readers. The Alaskan weather mimics the frostiness from the residents beautifully. The time line of the book alternates among the aftermath of Kyra's death, letters Kyra sent to Corey, and moments between the friends before Corey left. Nijkamp writes about the highs and lows of the mental illness and how even the best-intentioned people can do harm. The cruelty of the town's people will stay with readers long after they close the book. The honest reflection of mental illness, suicide, friendship, and being an outsider provides ample topics for book discussion. VERDICT Recommended for teens who enjoy haunting tales and are fans of Nijkamp's This Is Where It Ends.-Jennifer Rummel, Cragin Library, Colchester, CT

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* When Corey gets the call that her friend Kyra drowned in an iced-over lake, it's been seven months since the two of them talked, and Corey drops everything to return to the tiny, isolated town of Lost Creek, Alaska. She expected at least a bit of a warm welcome from the town she grew up in, but instead, she finds chilly demeanors and secret whispers, even from Kyra's own parents, whom Corey considered family. When Corey starts asking questions about Kyra's death, first she gets reluctant, enigmatic answers, and then she finds disturbing clues about Kyra's final days, as her bipolar disorder spiraled out of control. Nijkamp builds a captivatingly creepy atmosphere in her sophomore novel, with well-paced ghostly apparitions, lightly magical occurrences, and an eerie sense that someone's watching Corey at every turn. What's more terrifying, however, is Lost Creek's mistreatment of Kyra, even by her own parents, which is fueled by a twisted quest for hope. The horror trappings are certainly compelling, and they'll keep the pages turning, but at its core, Nijkamp's novel is a harsh rebuke of an all-too-common, troubling trope in many YA novels: fetishizing deeply creative, suicidal teens as too bright to live. With exceptional handling of everything from mental illness to guilt, and a riveting, magic realist narrative, this well-wrought, haunting novel will stick with readers long after the final page.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)