The Last Good Day of the Year

March 1, 2015
Ten years after the widely publicized kidnapping of Sam's baby sister, Turtle, Sam and her family return to live in the home where the abduction took place.In a detail-rich, nostalgic narrative voice, Sam describes the fateful night and its aftermath. It was 1986; Sam was 7 and Turtle, 4. Alternating chapters take readers to 1996, when Sam and her altered, numbed family return to Shelocta. Sam's older sister, Gretchen, whose much-older boyfriend was eventually convicted of Turtle's murder, has come back to Shelocta from Texas; Hannah, the 5-year-old sister everyone agrees is serving as Turtle's replacement in her parents' minds, flits innocently through the action, unaware of her family's history. Tension among family members and with old neighbors, former acquaintances, and Sam's childhood best friend drives the largely atmospheric story forward. Interspersed throughout are excerpts from the book an investigative journalist has written about Turtle's case. These interview transcripts and outsider descriptions of family members add to the pervasive sense of distance and fragility in a community blown apart by trauma. Oddly, the resolution is far more plot-based than the lead-up would suggest. Many of the character-based questions (When will Hannah learn about what happened to Turtle? What sort of relationship will Sam and Remy have now?) go unanswered.Hauntingly written but leaves readers wondering, what now? (Mystery. 14 & up)

May 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-It only took a few moments for Sam's life to change forever. On New Year's Eve, 1986, Sam, seven, and her best friend and neighbor, Remy, are the only witnesses to the abduction of Sam's little sister, Turtle, age four. In the aftermath, the two children struggle to tell police everything they remember. In the end, Sam's older sister's boyfriend is convicted and her family is devastated as her sister is never found. Sam's family eventually moves away only to return 10 years later to try and reconcile themselves with the tragedy that still haunts them. Their return brings back memories for Sam as she reconnects with Remy and she begins to wonder: did they tell the truth that fateful night? Is the wrong man in jail? The story unfolds through flashbacks, excerpts from a true crime book written about the case, and events during the summer of 1996. However, the eventual denouement is too rushed, leaving more questions than answers. Sam is a sympathetic character, but readers never really get to know her, despite being in her head for most of the book. The characters' motivations and development is haphazard, and while the story contains lots of tension that fans of the genre will love, the ending may leave them frustrated. This fragmented tale doesn't feel fully stitched together. VERDICT A tense ride of a story that fails to deliver.-Necia Blundy, formerly at Marlborough Public Library, MA

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