If the Witness Lied

If the Witness Lied
By Caroline B. Cooney
Delacorte Press, 2009. 213 pgs. Young Adult

The Fountain children have been hit hard by tragedies heavily exploited by the media—the death of their mother in giving birth to her last child, Tris, and the death of their father accidentally caused by two-year-old Tris. Smithy and Madison, the two sisters, leave home, overcome by grief and unhappiness. Jack stays home to take care of Tris, because he doesn’t trust Cheryl, their step-aunt, who watches TV all day long. Jack has good reason to dislike Cheryl—she essentially sells Tris out, when she makes an agreement with a TV producer to do a docu-drama on the Fountain children. Guilt-ridden, and not knowing about the TV show, Smithy and Madison separately arrive at home, where the children discover something more shocking.

This novel takes place all in one day, which keeps the action moving, but I am not sure if this all could reasonably occur in one day. The constant use of the present tense (compared to a lot of books using the past tense) was very distracting to me, although it does help provide the novel’s sense of urgency. The constant flipping points of view also bothered me. Definitely not my favorite Cooney novel.

MN