Wow. It’s been a while since I read such a powerfully packed young adult novel. The themes are thoroughly explored — religion, faith, belief (all different things); trust, loyalty, friendship, love; coming of age, identity, personal agency; the justice system — as complex and ambiguous, at times both/neither good or evil. 

Despite Minnow’s understandable reluctance to open up, her refusal to explain or even face exactly what happened that night, I found her a sympathetic and reasonably relatable narrator. I admired her resilience in the face of what she’s been through, and her slow-but-steady character development was completely believable. 

The reveal didn’t play out at all as I had expected, yet it made perfect sense — great literary climaxes are a lost art, but this is a terrific example. In fact, the plot arc as a whole was well planed and executed, perfectly paced to keep the reader’s interest without infodumping or overwhelming.