Altebrando nails the staccato delivery of popular investigative podcasts like Serial . . . Extremely effective in landing emotional punches . . . Taut and thoroughly gripping.” —starred review, Publishers Weekly
“The juicy premise is enough to draw mystery/crime fans, and Altebrando unspools details with a deft hand.” —BCCB
“This gripping tale, full of unexpected twists and turns, will intrigue readers who enjoy psychological thrillers with a touch of the paranormal.” —School Library Journal
“A fast-paced thriller . . . Fans of true-crime podcasts especially will feel right at home.” —Booklist
“You will not sleep, check your phone or even breathe once you begin reading The Leaving. Altebrando hides a meditation on memory and identity inside a top-speed page-turner. I promise, you will not even look up from the page.” —E. Lockhart, author of WE WERE LIARS on THE LEAVING
“A twisting, harrowing story . . . Engrossing, both as a thriller and a meditation on memory-its limits, its loss, and the ways it deceives and constructs identity.” —starred review, Publishers Weekly on THE LEAVING
“This is no mere thriller; folded into this compulsively readable work are thought-provoking themes. . . . Teens who enjoy engrossing, contemplative titles such as Adam Silvera's More Happy Than Not will devour this insightful musing on memory and identity.” —starred review, School Library Journal on THE LEAVING
“As heart-stopping as it is heart-breaking, The Leaving layers a wildly strange suspense story over a lovely and unexpected narrative of grief, loss, and the struggle to imagine a future in the shadow of the past.” —Robin Wasserman, author of GIRLS ON FIRE on THE LEAVING
“This book gripped me on the first page, and by the last, had really moved me. It's a twisty, oh no she didn't thriller that keeps the surprises firing, but also a thoughtful meditation on memory, identity, and what really makes us who we are.” —Bennett Madison, author of SEPTEMBER GIRLS on THE LEAVING
“We are rushed headlong into Altebrando's The Leaving, and instantly we want to know: Who are these wildly intriguing teens? Where are their memories hiding? Who or what has engineered the disappearance of their childhood? Bold, inventive, and engaging, The Leaving leaps straight off the page.” —Beth Kephardt, author of SMALL DAMAGES and THIS IS THE STORY OF YOU on THE LEAVING
2017-03-29
Kaylee's birth mother, Crystal, claimed telekinetic powers before she was convicted of murdering Kaylee's little brother, Jack; 13 years later, Liana, a journalist revisiting the story for her podcast, wants to know if Kaylee's inherited Crystal's ability. Kaylee's suppressed her memories of her early years with Crystal, serving a life sentence in a Pennsylvania penitentiary, but still dreams of Jack and suspects Crystal's claims were valid and that she may have inherited them. Against her parents' wishes, Kaylee agrees to be interviewed for the podcast if Liana will take her to see Crystal. As episodes go live, Kaylee becomes a celebrity at school and the swim club where she's a lifeguard. She leverages her fame to attract a boy but takes friends (including Aiden, who wants to be more) for granted. Unsure of her powers, Kaylee still enjoys the attention—even when it's more fear than popularity. Plot twists entertain, but the story's weakened by its superficial, insensitive portrayal of adoption. The juxtaposition of Kaylee's world of white suburban affluence, where everyone belongs to the swim club, and Crystal's foreshortened world, from impoverished childhood to prison, is stark. Well-heeled characters seem indifferent to the less-privileged; Crystal, brutal and brutalized, is treated with contempt. Kaylee's occasional reflections on her birth mother's privations, seemingly intended to convey her empathy, are belied by her cruelty to Crystal. A narrative deaf to adoption's difficult complexities: the ties that may no longer bind but never disappear. (Fiction. 14-17)
