Ghosting by Edith Pattou (review)

It’s the last weekend before senior year, and Emma and Brendan are set to party with Chloe and Anil. They’ve invited Felix, too, even though he’s become a stoner, and Maxie, who used to be Emma’s and Felix’s best friend. When a prank goes horribly wrong and a lonely, mentally disturbed boy tries to protect his home with a gun, Emma’s little sister, Faith, is almost killed, Emma’s dream of a soccer scholarship is destroyed, Felix loses an eye, and Brendan is paralyzed. Guilt has its own paralyzing effect, however, and there is more than enough of that to go around until each of the survivors finds his or her own path on which to move forward. Pattou develops distinctive poetic styles for each character in this verse novel, but the poetry itself is unfortunately flat. Additionally, the cast is somewhat stock: the golden people, Chloe and Brendan, hide family secrets behind beautiful facades; Anil, the South Asian overachiever, might not want to be all that he can be; Felix has become a self-destructive stoner after watching his father abuse her mother, etc. Each of these usual YA suspects is well enough developed, though, and since each character manages a full recovery through difficult circumstances, the ending note is upbeat as kindness ultimately wins out.