Dark Song

Dark Song
By Gail Giles
Little, Brown, 2010. 292 pgs. Young Adult

Fifteen-year-old Ames is used to a privileged life--she lives in a nice home, attends a private school, and her family seems pretty perfect. However, when her father loses his job and all of the family's money, Ames's world falls apart. Her parents, formerly supportive and interested in her life, are now angry all the time and move them to to Texas to a filthy, run-down rental. With the deterioration of her family, Ames finds comfort in Marc--a twenty-two-year-old with a criminal past who is posing as a seventeen-year-old. Soon Ames has to decide how far she'll go to keep him.

This book is both edgy and gripping. I wasn't sure if I'd find the premise of the book believable--that a happy, normal teenager would be so drawn to a dark, twisted man--but I think Giles made it work, allowing readers to see both the good and the bad in Ames and how her reaction to her parents' rejection is a plausible one. With dynamic characters, an intriguing plot, and good editing, there's not much not to like about this book.

AE