When I first picked up this book I was a little nervous since it brought back a character I really disliked in a previous book and now she seemed to have a bigger part. Also it was a story about teenage girls of the type I don't relate to at all.

But then the story sucked me right in. The conflicting agendas of everyone in the story are completely fascinating, and I liked some of the observations from the adult characters on the kind of friendship the central group of girls has. I was pleased with the answer to the mystery, so really bought the personalities and motivations of everyone that led to it. The victim, too, was very believable. He had two sides to his personality that were in conflict, but very believable in one person. At times I sympathized at the tragedy, other times thought there was some poetic justice to his death.

It was interesting that Holly Mackey, a character I didn't ever completely buy in Faithful Place, was probably the least believable/memorable of the girls in the story. But that wasn't at all a detraction from the story. And really the important friendship is the one that forms between the protagonist (or part protagonist--the pov is just as often given to the teenagers) and the murder detective with whom he's working, which makes for a great theme to tie everything together.

I had already read The Trespasser so I thought of these two as already knowing each other. I was glad to get a chance to see how they met, but a little disappointed that we didn't get a better insight into Stephen. He's such an interesting character in The Trespasser and this book doesn't really get into what makes him tick--yet the few glimpses we did get were fascinating so I wanted more.