With Malice by Eileen Cook - OPTIONAL

Cook, Eileen  With Malice, 316 pgs.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.   $17.99  Content: Language: R (64 swears; 11 “F”); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG-13.   

Jill has been in a horrible accident and can’t remember the last six weeks.  She is wondering why her best friend, Simone, hasn't come to visit her and how she got to the United States from Italy.  As she is recovering physically, she starts to realize that there is a lot that her parents aren’t telling her.  When she moves into a physical therapy room with another teenager, Jill starts to hear the rumors about what happened to Jill and why she is the suspect in a murder case.   

As the story line progresses this book gets more and more unbelievable and frustrating.  I didn’t care what happened to Jill because she wasn’t a likable character.  Although the premise of this book sounds interesting, it fell flat and had an unsatisfying ending which was the only thing that could have saved it.  There is underage drinking and some crass statements.  

HS – OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.