Introduction

People ask me all the time what having Vince MacKenzie for a father was like. What they mean is, was he always crazy?

High school junior Jordan MacKenzie's life was pretty typical: fractured family, new boyfriend, dead-end job. She'd been living with her father (the predictable optometrist) since her mother (the hippie holdover) had become too embarrassing to be around. Jordan felt that she finally had as normal a life as she could. Then came Gayle D'Angelo.

Jordan knew her father was dating Gayle and that Gayle was married. Jordan knew it was wrong and that her father was becoming someone she didn't recognize anymore, but what could she do about it? And how could she -- how could anyone -- have possibly guessed that this illicit love affair would implode in such a violent and disturbing way?

Editorial Review

"Nothing like that happens to people like me, not to people like my dad, who changes the oil in his car and pays his bills on time... I mean, imagine it. Your father. Your father. I can tell you, though, it does happen. To people like me." Up until now, 17-year-old Jordan's biggest problem in life was dealing with her hippy-dippy mom, the kind of woman who "might suddenly flop out a boob" to nurse her little brother. She much preferred the company of her calm, measured father, "a Shredded Wheat and All-Bran guy," who never embarrassed her in front of her friends. That's why Jordan is stunned when her nice, divorced dad starts acting like a lovelorn teenager over one of their neighbors, Gayle D'Angelo. True, Gayle is pretty, but she's also married. Too proud to let anyone in their cloistered Pacific Northwest island community know, Jordan decides to handle the situation herself. She tries everything from directly confronting her dad, to dating local thug Kale Kramer in a misguided attempt to gain her father's attention. But nothing seems to work, and when Gayle's husband goes missing and the police name Jordan's dad as a suspect, Jordan's life rapidly spins out of control.

Emotional and intense, Deb Caletti's first book for young adults is reminiscent of other recent teen psychological page-turners like Carol Plum-Ucci's What Happened to Lani Garver and Aimee by Mary Beth Miller. Jordan is a realistic heroine that older female teen readers will sympathize with and cheer for as she struggles to understand this suddenly complex world of adult motivations and desires. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

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