THE HALF LIFE OF MOLLY PIERCE

In a fast-moving thriller, a depressed teen must piece together why she keeps blacking out and losing time and why everyone around her seems to know a secret.

Ever since her suicide attempt a year earlier, Molly explains to the reader in breathless and moody prose, “[t]here are long stretches where I don’t remember anything.” Coming back to consciousness one afternoon in her car, having apparently skipped school, she sees a boy on a motorcycle weave through traffic and collide violently with a truck. Thrown both by the accident, which leads to the boy Lyle’s death, and by Lyle’s insistence that he knows her, Molly withdraws further. Her one comfort is Sayer, Lyle’s brother, with whom Molly feels an instant bond, though she quickly realizes Sayer knows more than he’s telling. The book has an almost noir tone. Molly’s confusion, fear and pervasive depression create a dark atmosphere, even as short paragraphs and sentence fragments establish a relentless pace. What readers learn as Molly’s memories start to come back answers most of the story’s questions, but a touch anticlimactically: No one really needed to die in a motorcycle accident for the truth to be revealed.

Enjoyably suspenseful, even if the stakes aren’t as high as they seem.