The Killer's Cousin (Hardcover)

by Nancy Werlin (Author) "My cousin Lily was eleven years old when I moved into the third floor of my uncle Vic and aunt Julia's triple-decker house at the..." (more)
Key Phrases: humming shadow, attic apartment, Frank Delgado, Help Lily, Aunt Eileen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Ever since David Yaffe was acquitted of murder in the accidental death of his girlfriend, he has felt that "for the rest of my life, over and over, I would have to convince everyone--including me--of my harmlessness." To escape media attention and the prying stares of the curious, he is sent to finish his senior year of high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he lives in the attic apartment of his Aunt Julia and Uncle Vic. They receive him coldly, and his 11-year-old cousin, Lily, is openly hostile. (The apartment previously belonged to their older daughter Kathy, who died an apparent suicide at age 18.) With a haunting series of episodes--including a sporadic humming and a fleeting shadow--David begins to sense Kathy's eerie and powerful presence.

His loneliness and self-distrust is relieved only by his friendship with Raina, an art student who lives downstairs--until Lily's spying and harassing destroys the relationship. Lily's anger escalates into more and more vicious tricks, but when David confronts Vic and Julia, they refuse to believe that Lily needs help. At last David is forced to realize that he and Lily share a complicity in murder, in a blazing climax that resolves this subtle psychological thriller. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

From Publishers Weekly
Many secrets bubble just beneath the surface of this skillful thriller narrated by a high-school senior who has been accused?and acquitted?of murdering his girlfriend. David Yaffe moves from Baltimore to Cambridge to avoid publicity, but instead of finding refuge with Uncle Vic, Aunt Julia and cousin Lily, he is shown to their attic apartment and expected to fend for himself. His relatives appear to be conducting a cold war. Still blaming each other for their daughter Kathy's suicide four years ago, Julia and Vic have stopped speaking to each other. The one who suffers the most from their silence is 11-year-old Lily, who shows signs of being emotionally disturbed. Suspense rises to a feverish pitch as pieces of a complex puzzle fall into place, involving Kathy's death and Julia and Vic's estrangement from each other and from David's parents. Even Kathy's ghost seems to make an appearance, imploring David to "help Lily." Meanwhile, Lily is doing everything she can to turn her parents against him. David's attempts to pull the family together fail miserably until, in the aftermath of a chilling climax, he confronts his own demons as he attempts to help Lily dispel hers. The novel's gothic flavor, compelling minor characters (David's skinhead friend, Frank, and Raina, a college student and artist) and subtle exploration of guilt and complicity add texture to this tense psychological drama. Werlin (Are You Alone on Purpose?) leaves enough unanswered questions to make readers want to keep lights burning a little longer than usual. Ages 14-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; 1 edition (October 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385325606
• ISBN-13: 978-0385325608
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #503,075 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Such Suspence!, August 4, 2000

By	Nancy E. "Nancy" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Killer's Cousin (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved this book. It tells the story of David Yaffe, after being auquitted of murdering his girlfriend he moves to his aunt and uncle's house. He immeaditally finds out that his aunt dosen't have a liking for him, and his cousin is very intrested in what it felt like to kill someone. This book is full of suspence and mystery. There's a twist in there that I surely did not see coming up! If you like to read, read this book, it's very good!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful characters, October 23, 2001

By	Meaghan Good "meggilyweggily" (Venedocia, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Killer's Cousin (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of my favorite books in the world (though I haven't seen it in about four months cause I lent it to a so-called "friend" who promises to return it "any day now", argh). The thing I like best is the characters. David was so real to me, afraid of himself, lonely, guilty. Frank was probably my favorite character in the book. He reminds me of certain friends of mine. At first I really disliked Lily -- she seemed like a demon-child -- but after I realized what had happened I felt sorry for her. The only part of the book that I didn't like was Kathy's ghost. I didn't think that belonged in an otherwise realistic story, though it was through Kathy that David realized what Lily had done. All in all, a great book which I'd recommend to anyone who likes suspense novels.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Book, January 5, 2000

By	Latoyia Burks (Maywood,Ill.) - See all my reviews

"The Killer's Cousin" was a great book. It was about a young man, David Yaffe, who was recently acquitted for the murder of his girlfriend and now he is suspicious of his little cousin, Lily, who goes through his things and will not stop talking about how he felt when it happened to him. I recommend every one to read this book.