Review: Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy

Title: Looking for JJ
Author: Anne Cassidy
Publisher: Harcourt
Date Published: 2004
Genre: Young Adult/Adult
Main Themes: Murder, Witness Protection, Love, Family
Pages: 319
Plot
From book jacket:
"Three children walked away from the cottages on the edge of town toward Berwick Waters. Later that day, only two of them came back...

Alice Tully knows exactly what happened that spring day six years ago - Lothough it's still hard for her to believe. The images, the sounds, and theaftermath are imprinted in her memory. She'll never be able to forget,even though seh's trying to lead a normal life - she has a job, friends, and a boyfriend whom she adores. She's making a go of things, getting a new life started, putting those memories behind her.

But her past is dangerous, violent, and sad - and it's about to rip her new life apart."

Looking for JJ developed slowly, but what it lacked in speed it made up for in intesity. The story begins as the reader is introduced to Alice Tully, a seventeen year old barista. Alice has a secret, a dark past that only a select few know about. The reader knows from the beginning that Alice is not really Alice, she is actually the infamous JJ, known as the ten-year old murderer.

The reader, however, only knows Alice at this point and wonders how Alice, the seemingly calm and together girl, could have performed such a horrible act.

As the story progresses the reader gets to know Alice and then JJ, until the reader is questioning what is right and what is wrong, who is to blame for the murder, and if people like JJ can change.

The one aspect of the book that I really didn't enjoy was Alice's relationship with her boyfriend Frankie. I didn't really believe their relationship. Alice supposedly 'adored' him, but all he did was complain, doubt her, and pressure her - it got kind of old after awhile because he never supported her, only held her down.

I recommend this book, but I wouldn't buy it - its more of a borrow from the library book. I don't think I'd read it again.

Ratings (out of 10):
Plot: 10
Characters: 8
Writing style: 10
Romance: NA
Originality: 10

Total: 38/40 (A)