By: Willo Davis Roberts
Genre: Mid-Grade / Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Every summer Cici’s extended family gathers at her grandparents’ “cottage” (more like mansion) at Crystal Lake for a few weeks of fun and relaxation. Her immediate family has only ever missed one summer at the lake, and as CiCi learns when she arrives for her current visit, she missed a lot more than some fun in the sun. The previous summer a girl was murdered and her crush's older brother was convicted of the crime. After speaking with her crush and his mother, Cici is convinced the real killer is still out there and decides to investigate the murder on her own. As the clues start to add up, Cici is shocked to find a member of her own family may be the true guilty party.
I was disappointed by this book. I’ve been on a big nostalgia reading kick these past few months, digging out books from authors I adored in childhood and my teen years. As a kid I devoured Willo Davis Roberts’s books, even checking Babysitting is a Dangerous Job and The Absolutely True Story … How I Visited Yellowstone Park with the Terrible Rupes out from my local library numerous times. (They were the only two books by this author my library had.) Now I’m afraid to revisit them as I may not like what I find upon a reread. Or, it could simply be that Roberts is better at writing stories that involve robbery and kidnapping than murder mysteries. I’ll save that determination for another day.
I did like the basic premise of the story – Cici has grown up with both the murdered girl and the boy wrongly convicted of the crime; it’s obvious that would catch her interest. The reason why she chooses to investigate the murder, however, is not because she was close to the victim or the alleged killer, or even that she likes to solve mysteries and is intrigued by this case – it’s because she wants to prove “she’s a big kid now” to her crush and win his romantic affections.
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| Jack-y, Wow! I'm a Big Kid Now! |
Not to say she really does much in the way of investigating. She makes a list of suspects (that she foolishly leaves out for anyone to find), asks a few questions of the neighboring regular vacationers / locals, and draws a circle on a map to determine towns the victim may have visited in the days leading up to her demise. She doesn’t take the opportunity to look over the crime scene, try to retrace the victim’s steps the night of the murder, or even question anyone’s alibis. It’s just dumb luck when some incriminating evidence falls (literally) into her lap. She’s foolish and puts herself in unnecessary danger, while also not really having any idea what she’s doing at all.
Cici doesn’t really have much of a personality outside of being a naïve, whiney brat and obsessing over her crush, Jack. While on her current stay at the lake, her grandmother has a stroke and subsequently passes away after a few days. Cici acts like this is more of an inconvenience to her summer plans than being upset she lost her grandmother. She whines about going to the hospital to see her, then whines about the Viewing of the Body and even about attending the funeral. She claims it’s because she doesn’t want to remember her grandmother as the feeble woman in a hospital bed or as a corpse – I get that fear and I understand that people grieve in different ways. This could have been explored through a conversation with a parent, aunt, older cousin or friend, but it isn’t and she comes off as a selfish brat. Having lost a grandmother at around the same age as Cici, I would have given anything to see her one last time and wouldn’t have ever thought of skipping the funeral, so her behavior is baffling to me. I even understand the lack of closeness she feels with this particular grandmother, as she seems to be one of many grandchildren. Being a member of a very large family with many cousins, I get that it’s hard to get one-on-one time with your grandparents, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less when they pass on. Suck it up, kiddo.
Cici honestly doesn’t really seem to care about anyone but herself and Jack. Her feelings for him border on obsession. She’s fourteen (though she insists on calling it ‘almost fifteen’) and desperate for any bit of attention seventeen-year-old Jack might give her. While an age gap of two and a half to three years wouldn’t typically bug me, it does here due to the vast difference in maturity between the ages of fourteen and seventeen. He’s got his license and a part time job. He's also thinking about college. She’s barely hit puberty and hasn’t even started high school yet. She’s not ready for the things that he likely is when it comes to romantic relationships. Thankfully, despite her best efforts, their relationship remains mostly platonic, aside from his random comment that she’s “no longer flat chested,” when they’re reunited for the summer.
Cici whines regularly that he still treats her like a little kid, and yeah, that’s because you’re still acting like one.
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| CiCi to Jack, Wondering Why He Doesn't See How Mature She Is. |
Jack himself is an okay character, but him commenting on her chest almost immediately upon seeing her soured me to him very early on. He also talks negatively about Zoe, the murdered girl, stating, “There were a couple times before that I felt like smacking Zoe’s face – or her butt – but the way we were brought up, a guy doesn’t hit a girl, even if she deserves it.” (pg. 118) Um, maybe your Mama should have taught you that violence is rarely the answer? We don’t hit people simply because they are annoying, Jack! Also, spanking? As this is supposed to be a book for preteens, I’m assuming we’re not delving into the sexual connotations, so is Jack thinking himself Zoe’s disciplinarian? She’s your peer, bro, that’s not your job.
Aside from the aforementioned gross, misogynistic comments, Jack does prove himself a valuable ally to Cici. In fact, I doubt she would have figured anything out without him, really, since he’s the one that gathers the truly damning evidence. He’s also fiercely protective of her, which comes in handy when she does something stupid.
Zoe, poor Zoe, not only was she murdered but her name has been dragged through the mud ever since her death (and I’m assuming it was before as well). While it sounds like Zoe wasn’t the best person, she didn’t deserve what happened to her, nor the way everyone talked about her in the aftermath. Only one person mentioned her actual crimes of petty theft (stealing people’s money, rifling through purses, “borrowing” a neighbor’s vehicle), the rest focus on what a flirt she was. Numerous people refer to Zoe as “throwing herself at anything in pants” and a tease, believing she “got herself killed” by leading Brody (the alleged killer) on only to reject his sexual advances. Cici disagrees with that, not on the grounds of defending Zoe, but because “he wouldn’t have had to force her” or “she wouldn’t have said no.” So, either she was killed for being a tease or she wouldn’t have been killed for that reason because she’s actually a slut? Either way, this theory disparages Zoe long after her death. I thought we weren’t supposed to speak ill of the dead?
We don’t slut shame or victim blame in this house. Also, “sluts” can and do have the ability and autonomy to say no. She could have hooked up with every guy at the lake that summer and still rejected her killer because it’s her body and her right to say who can and can’t touch her.
The adults thought her promiscuous, lacking proper discipline (it wasn’t just Jack that mentioned wanting to spank her), inappropriately dressed, and headed down a bad path. The kids and young adults thought she was nothing more than a pest. Only two middle aged women, Lina and Ellen, seem to have some empathy for Zoe – acknowledging she might be acting out for attention, especially from males, as her father is never around. So, Daddy Issues – got it.
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| Maybe Zoe would have benefitted from this interaction. |
They believed she would use her body and her looks to catch male interest but was too naïve regarding what would be expected of her once she got it. However, this just circles back to the theory she was killed for being a tease and that’s her fault because “men don’t handle rejection well.”
Cici is no less naïve in her dismissal of the “killed for being a tease” theory. Aside from assuming Zoe would let just anyone have their way with her; Cici also finds it unlikely a guy would kill a girl for rejecting him.
Ah, the pre-Elliot Roger days, where this was likely still happening but we didn’t hear about it as much because the internet hadn’t really taken hold yet. It happens all the time, so much so that there’s a famous quote regarding this:
“Men are afraid women
will laugh at them.
Women are afraid men will kill them.”
~ Margaret Atwood
Oh to be a fourteen-year-old in the early to mid - 1990s, so blissfully sheltered from the horrors of the world. Zoe very well could have been killed for this reason, but that’s due to the killer’s rage and sense of entitlement, not her telling him no.
Another theory was that Zoe flirted with the wrong guy and his significant other felt threatened enough to kill the competition. No mention of how wrong it would be for some of these guys (ex: the grown-ass men) to return her advances – straight to “that hussy’s trying to steal my man!” If a sixteen-year-old girl is that much of a threat to your relationship, just leave him honey. Either he’s tempted to cheat / already a cheater or you have some serious trust issues and neither makes for a healthy relationship. Also, if he’s a grown man encouraging her antics, he needs to be kept away from the underage girls.
The mystery itself is interesting – the more the characters dragged the victim, the more I wanted justice for her. As this is a book for tweens, the mystery isn’t very complex, which is fine. I did figure out the twist three chapters from the end, again no big deal in a book made for a young age group. However, the ending itself was fairly anticlimactic, leading to an underwhelming resolution.
The writing could have used more editing. There are a few points where Cici’s cousin Ginny is referred to as Ginger instead, but the text never clarifies if Ginny is a nickname for Ginger or if this was a mistake that slipped into publication.
The line “she threw herself at everything in pants” is repeatedly used and it becomes redundant very quickly. As the saying is only supposed to refer to males it seems outdated and nonsensical in an era where all sexes wear pants and Zoe was only targeting one.
The dialogue is often rambling – sometimes for the sake of exposition and sometimes just going off on something unrelated to the conversation that is never referenced again. Many of the characters barely exist in the story and most are indistinguishable from the others when they speak. No one is particularly well developed and there are times where it is obvious a decision was made in order to move the story along, even if it doesn’t make sense for the character. For instance, when Cici has a chance to climb out a window and escape the killer while they’re distracted, she chooses not to in order to stay and listen to them monologue so she can get all the details.
What good is that going to do you if you’re dead? Is your ghost going to testify against them in court?
Lastly, a silly thing that I happened to notice and find amusing because I’m a horror movie nerd: Early on in the story Cici states, “There couldn’t have been a murder at Crystal Lake.”
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| Jason Voorhees begs to differ ... |
I’ve dragged this book pretty hard, but it wasn’t terrible – I just didn’t really like it either. I don’t think I even would have liked it at the age it was aimed towards and it definitely hasn’t aged well enough for kids in that age bracket to embrace it today. It was an okay mystery and did hold my interest but the whiney heroine, her obsession with a questionable dude, the minimal investigation, the lackluster climax and the slut shaming / victim blaming of Zoe brought it down for me.
5/10
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