The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight

The Outliers (The Outliers #1) by Kimberly McCreight
Release Date - May 3, 2016

Publisher Website - Harper Collins
Publisher Social Media - Twitter/Facebook/SavvyReader/Frenzy
Pages - 352 pages
My Rating - 4.5/5
**received from publisher for an honest review**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia comes a fast-paced teen series where one girl learns that in a world of intrigue, betrayal, and deeply buried secrets, it is vital to trust your instincts.

It all starts with a text: Please, Wylie, I need your help. Wylie hasn’t heard from Cassie in over a week, not since their last fight. But that doesn’t matter. Cassie’s in trouble, so Wylie decides to do what she has done so many times before: save her best friend from herself.

This time it’s different, though. Instead of telling Wylie where she is, Cassie sends cryptic clues. And instead of having Wylie come by herself, Jasper shows up saying Cassie sent him to help. Trusting the guy who sent Cassie off the rails doesn’t feel right, but Wylie has no choice but to ignore her gut instinct and go with him.

But figuring out where Cassie is goes from difficult to dangerous, fast. As Wylie and Jasper head farther and farther north into the dense woods of Maine, Wylie struggles to control her growing sense that something is really wrong. What isn’t Cassie telling them? And could finding her be only the beginning?

In this breakneck tale, New York Times bestselling author Kimberly McCreight brilliantly chronicles a fateful journey that begins with a single decision—and ends up changing everything. 

I've read Kimberly McCreight's adult titles and was extremely curious about her first foray into YA literature. I was thrilled to discover that there would be a mystery at the heart of this novel as she's proven herself to be an exciting new voice in the mystery genre. The Outliers proves that she can move between fiction categories with ease and that her talent in the mystery genre easily translate to young adult works.

Kimberly McCreight is a master at revealing plot points at just the right moment. She uses the story to push the mystery forward and in tandem uses the mystery to propel the story. The result is a high tension, rapidly paced read that is engrossing. Once you're swept away into the story the reminder of the book will soar by with the reader desperately turning the pages to find out what happens next. It's a skill that makes saying 'just one more page/chapter' nearly impossible. It's the kind of story you'll devour in one sitting.

The mystery, and the truth behind what is going on with Cassie, is more complex and larger than I anticipated. It's the type of story where the answers only lead to more questions. I spent most of the novel with my brain racing to unravel the clues, and theorizing what would happen next. It's the kind of story that you'll want to theorize about and each theory only gets more outlandish. I was thrilled that this story was not at all what I expected it to be. It allowed me to be generally surprised by things as they happened. It goes without saying that the less you know about what happens within these pages the more enjoyable your reading experience will be. Those looking for a satisfying ending, however, should be warned that this is the beginning of the series. As a result of this, only some of the questions you have will be answered, and you'll be left hoping the next book releases soon. Kimberly McCreight has only just begun to reveal her secrets and I cannot wait to discover what unravels next.

The characters, including Wylie, are all unreliable. There are so many secrets being kept, and half truths being told. You don't know who to trust, and with a main character who suffers from panic attacks, everything ends up being murky. You believe Wylie feels the way she does about situations and people, but it's hard to believe in those feelings when she herself doesn't know what to believe. It puts the reader on equal footing with Wylie as we have to work through the lies to get to the truth and figure out who to trust as the story progresses. It makes it easy to relate to Wylie and creates a connection with a character that may be hard for people to connect to.

Perhaps my favourite part of this novel is that the parents of these teenage characters do not disappear into the background. There are worried texts, frantic phone calls, and demands for the kids to return home. It's made clear that the parents are very involved in their children's lives. They are present and very much part of the story. Usually we're left to wonder what the parents think while the main characters are off in dangerous situations. It was refreshing to see them represented in a more logical way.

You won't want to miss this book if you are a fan of mysteries where the answers lead to more questions. The breakneck pacing, the increasing tension and it's addictive quality all make this a must read. Kimberly McCreight continues to showcase her talent for crafting entirely engrossing mysteries, and I am desperate for book two in this promising series. If you haven't yet discovered this author make it your summer goal to do just that. 

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

Release Date – April 2, 2013

Publisher Website - Harper Collins Canada

Publisher Social Media - Twitter/Facebook/SavvyReader 

Pages -  384 pages

My Rating- 3.5/5

**obtained for review from publisher**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

A stunning debut novel in which a single mother reconstructs her teenaged daughter's life, sifting through her emails, texts, and social media to piece together the shocking truth about the last days of her life.

Litigation lawyer and harried single mother Kate Baron is stunned when her daughter's exclusive private school in Park Slope, Brooklyn, calls with disturbing news: her intelligent, high-achieving fifteen-year-old daughter, Amelia, has been caught cheating.

Kate can't believe that Amelia, an ambitious, levelheaded girl who's never been in trouble would do something like that. But by the time she arrives at Grace Hall, Kate's faced with far more devastating news. Amelia is dead.

Seemingly unable to cope with what she'd done, a despondent Amelia has jumped from the school's roof in an act of "spontaneous" suicide. At least that's the story Grace Hall and the police tell Kate. And overwhelmed as she is by her own guilt and shattered by grief, it is the story that Kate believes until she gets the anonymous text:

She didn't jump.

Sifting through Amelia's emails, text messages, social media postings, and cell phone logs, Kate is determined to learn the heartbreaking truth about why Amelia was on Grace Hall's roof that day-and why she died.

Told in alternating voices, Reconstructing Amelia is a story of secrets and lies, of love and betrayal, of trusted friends and vicious bullies. It's about how well a parent ever really knows a child and how far one mother will go to vindicate the memory of a daughter whose life she could not save

Getting the devastating call that something has happened to your child has got to be every parent’s worst nightmare. Even worse would be finding out, when it’s too late, that maybe you maybe didn’t know your child has well as you thought.

Kate’s world is rocked when she learns her daughter has been accused of cheating, only to have it destroyed when she arrives to the news that her daughter committed suicide. Guilt plagues Kate for most of the novel. She feels she wasn’t around enough, and begins to feel like she might be responsible for what happened. Her drive to find out what happened to her daughter felt achingly real. I can see any parent being haunted by the why in a situation like this.

Amelia's high school experience starts out as a pretty typical one. She’s not overly popular, but has a group of people she talks to and a best friend whom she spends most of her time with. She’s smart, and studious. She shies away from getting involved with most things outside of school however. Her high school experience takes a drastic turn when she begins a ‘friendship’ with some girls that she never expected to be involved with. High school can be cruel, and Amelia learns this first hand. 

I liked Amelia’s voice. It rang true to her character. A little unsure of herself, but ultimately stronger than she knew. She holds up much better than many would under increasingly devastating circumstances. As her world gets increasingly hurtful and stressing I wanted her to reach out. Sadly, like a lot of teenagers she lacks the confidence to find her voice.

Her relationship with her mother was well developed. The push/pull of wanting freedom and missing her mother was so realistic to someone in Amelia’s situation. The guilt Kate carries from not being around more is a catalyst for many of that character’s decisions that it became a predominant part of her character.

There are plenty of twists and turns in the story. The way it unravels reminds me of a puzzle. You’re given these pieces, and they all fit to form a picture, but you don’t a basis to put them together. As each piece is revealed it the image gets less murky until what it is becomes obvious. I liked pacing, and how it was presented. The little things you didn’t think mattered until all of a sudden they did, the huge ones that felt inconsequential when the truth is revealed. I think some may guess the ending prior to the unveiling, but it’s the journey to that ending is that so unexpected.

There are many layers to Amelia’s story. Sifting through all of the reasons she could have ended up on that roof the day she died, to the eventual truth, is as twisty as the novel itself. Was it suicide? An accident? Or perhaps something more sinister? There are things that point to each of these potential scenarios. Being presented with so many plausible scenarios, and reasons behind Amelia’s death, made the story feel like it had the potential to be unpredictable. 

This brings us to the ending itself. I was not overly satisfied with the ending. It wrapped things up, and was certainly not what I was expecting. However, after the amazing build up it felt like the ending fizzled out. It’s a plausible and, for me, surprising ending but one that other may enjoy more than I did. 

A twisty read that many will devour and love. I enjoyed it’s tense pacing, and great characters, but sadly felt unsatisfied with it’s ending. An otherwise enjoyable read that I think will heat up beaches this summer.