FICTION

Damage Done

by Amanda PANITCH
304p. Random. 2015. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780553507492.
COPY ISBN
Gr 9 Up—In the vein of E. Lockhart's We Were Liars (Delacorte, 2015) and Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl (Crown, 2012), Panitch's novel delivers a heart-pounding, emotionally charged story that proves that not everything is what it seems. Julia Vann faces unmentionable consequences when her twin brother, Ryan, brings a gun to school and kills 11 people in the band room. Ryan, after shooting himself, remains in a coma, and Julia's family moves to a different city to escape the whispers and outright hatred. As Julia, now called Lucy, realizes her brother's psychologist is following her, she must confront buried memories that threaten her daily existence. The slow trickle of reminiscences unveils a dark truth, one that Julia/Lucy wants hidden forever, and one in which she will go to extreme lengths to protect.
VERDICT The latest author to tackle unreliable narrators, Panitch combines heart-twisting realities with a good old-fashioned mystery.
Reviewed by Amanda C. Buschmann, Atascocita Middle School, Humble, TX
After Julia Vann's twin brother shot eleven people, plus himself, in a high school band room, Julia and her parents change their names and move to a new town. But the appearance of a man from Julia's past shows her she can't escape that easily. So begins this deeply disturbing, suspenseful thriller that, à la Gone Girl, skillfully manipulates its readers.
, Aug 01, 2015

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