Good and Gone by Megan Frazer Blakemore (review)

Lexi's brother, Charlie, came home from college at winter break and hasn't left the couch since; when he suddenly decides to try to track down a famous musician who has gone missing, Lexi jumps at the plan, which will also take her away from the aftermath of a bad relationship. They enlist their car-owning neighbor Zack, load up on snacks, and take off before their parents get home from work. Buffered only slightly by Zack's gentle presence, Lexi and Charlie snarl at each other constantly on the way, Lexi's razor-like tongue made even sharper by anger she is only beginning to acknowledge as she sorts through her memories with Seth, her ex. Not since Chris Lynch's Inexcusable (BCCB 12/05) have readers encountered such a truly despicable, utterly credible, and possibly self-deluded creep as Seth. Insisting on his credentials as a feminist, he convinced Lexi that his insulting condescension was merely to show girls how they are complicit in their own oppression, and that Lexi's "no, thank you" was nothing more than evidence that she has been coerced by patriarchal culture into denying her desires. It was only after he repeatedly raped her, then, that she walked away. It takes her somewhat longer, with the help of Zack and the folks she meets on their road trip, for her to realize that she is as lost as her brother, but that, if they try, they can still hold on to each other. Lexi's wit, fueled by simmering rage, keeps her ruminations trenchant even when she finally breaks; a subtle current of girl power and the possibility of genuinely good guys flows through her encounters, leaving no doubt she will emerge wiser and stronger for her experience. KC