When the Light Went Out

by Bridget Morrissey

Overview

I Was Here meets Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls in this story of seven friends, five years of silence, and the one mystery that will bring them back together again.

It's been five years since Marley Bricket died by accidental gunshot. On the night of the annual memorial, Olivia Stanton, the only witness to Marley's death, gets an unexpected visitor in the form of Nick Cline. He's the boy who pulled the trigger on what he didn't know was a loaded gun. Since then, nothing in the quiet desert town of Cadence, California has ever been the same.

Nick's surprise reappearance puts all the Kids of Albany Lane in one place for the first time since Marley died. The once-inseparable group of neighborhood friends, formerly led by Marley herself, has disbanded. But when Olivia discovers a scavenger hunt orchestrated by Marley before she died, the group must come together again to complete it, reopening old wounds and unearthing new questions about what really happened. Most importantly, did Marley know the gun was loaded?

"A thrilling, adventure-filled story that captures the anguish of losing a friend."—Kirkus

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492670988
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	06/04/2019
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	152,067
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	HL710L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Bridget Morrissey lives in Los Angeles, California but hails from Oak Forest, Illinois, a small yet mighty suburb just southwest of Chicago. When she's not writing, she's coaching gymnastics, reading in the corner of a coffee shop, or headlining concerts in her living room.

Editorial Reviews

"Readers will enjoy the romance, dark humor, and bicycle-squad nostalgia as they move through an eerie and dangerous scavenger hunt... A thrilling, adventure-filled story that captures the anguish of losing a friend." - Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2019-03-07
California teens reunite to chase the memory of a dead friend.

Five years ago, when Nick Cline was only 11-years-old, he accidentally shot and killed 15-year-old Marley Bricket. Olivia Stanton idolized Marley, who was her older sister's best friend and the leader of their group. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Olivia is even more consumed with thoughts about Marley, carrying her memory everywhere she goes. And after all these years it seems Nick—who has returned to town—feels the same way. The two soon uncover clues Marley has left for them to follow, and they gather the kids of Albany Lane to search for answers, closure, and perhaps even redemption. Olivia is an unreliable narrator and a manipulative individual who appears motivated by a desire to gain the power which Marley once lorded over her friends. Readers will enjoy the romance, dark humor, and bicycle-squad nostalgia as they move through an eerie and dangerous scavenger hunt. The uncertainty and suspense lead to questions of whether what's unfolding is a ghost story or an elaborate suicide. The well-paced story offers an authentic exploration of grief, but the elaborate deceptions detract from readers' ability to connect to that experience. Olivia, Nick, and Marley are white; there is diversity in secondary characters who are Latinx, Korean-American, black, and lesbian.

A thrilling, adventure-filled story that captures the anguish of losing a friend. (Fiction. 12-15)

Kirkus Reviews