From Publishers Weekly
This might have been a fairly typical murder mystery were it not for the compelling protagonist at its center: June Duvall, a smalltown woman who works at an elementary school cafeteria. Her life changes when Ronald Pruett is arrested for strangling Vernay Hanks, a local waitress; June had declined a ride from Pruett a day earlier, thus changing her fate (or so she believes). Perhaps out of survivor's guilt, June decides to befriend Vernay's daughter, Cindy, and gruff, laconic brother Harlan, who has reluctantly become Cindy's caretaker. As June slowly becomes more involved in Harlan's and Cindy's lives, the state of her decade-long marriage becomes questionable; when she unravels the true circumstances around Vernay's murder, her life is turned upside-down. Clement's subtle prose renders June's existential pondering and anxious thoughts convincingly, and the novel's intriguing plot elements click. Clement, an elementary school librarian in western Oregon, makes a fine debut.
(July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–A novel about the twists and turns of deceits, small and large. June, a cafeteria worker in an elementary school, learns that a man from whom she refused a ride has been arrested for the murder of the mother of a student in her school. As she begins to obsess about the fate she seemingly escaped, she visits the dead womans daughter, Cindy Hanks, pretending to be an old family friend. There is a rumor of incest in the family and June, who is childless, considers adopting the girl. Soon she has been given some of the dead womans clothes, but she also discovers a secret that jeopardizes her almost-perfect marriage. Clement is a master of plot surprises as the relationships among June, Cindy, and even Cindys uncle grow more convoluted. When the lies begin to unravel, June becomes aware of the danger in telling even well-intentioned untruths and learns the limits of responsibility. Her moral dilemma will appeal to readers as she attempts to balance her good intentions against the half-truths that she feels she needs to tell. Teens will appreciate the quandaries of an adult world that will soon be theirs.
–Pat Bangs, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
