Fabulous Fiction Firsts #625, Part 2

Sun, 01/15/2017 - 1:14pm by muffy

First, you need to know that as one trusted Library Journal reviewer puts it in no uncertain terms: "(t)his bleak, potent picture will scare the pants off readers".

According to debut novelist Lindsey Lee Johnson (herself a former tutor/teen mentor), The Most Dangerous Place on Earth * * is your local high school - where we send our precious ones as a matter of course.

Alternately narrating is a group of privileged Mill Valley juniors, linked by the parts they played in the suicide of a middle school classmate. Among them are the classic high school archetypes: the jock, the A-student, the bully, the stoner, the outcast - all in the throes of a time of tumult and confusion, amplified by the seduction and tyranny of social media.

Caught up in the daily drama of these teens is Molly Nicoll, a mid-year replacement teacher from scrubbier Fresno. First time away from home, and barely out of her teens, she too, is navigating faculty-lounge cliques; the vigor of teaching; demands of entitled and indulgent parents; and trying to connect with her students. Lonely and naive, she strikes up a relationship with a fellow teacher who turns out to be a predator.

"(Johnson) keeps the action brisk and deepens readers’ investment, culminating in a high school party that goes wrong. Readers may find themselves so swept up in this enthralling novel that they finish it in a single sitting." (Publishers Weekly)

Suggested for fans of Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You and The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer.

* * = 2 starred reviews