| Abstract |
At seventeen, Jacklin Bates is all grown up. She's dropped out of school. She's living with her runaway sister, Trudy, and she's in secret, obsessive love with Luke, who doesn't love her back. She's stuck in Mobius -- a dying town with the macabre suicide forest its only attraction -- stuck working in the roadhouse and babysitting her boss's demented father. A stranger sets up camp in the forest and the boy next door returns; Jack's father moves into the shed and her mother steps up her campaign to punish Jack for leaving, too. Trudy's brilliant facade is cracking and Jack's only friend, Astrid, has done something unforgivable. Jack is losing everything, including her mind. As she struggles to hold onto the life she thought she wanted, Jack learns that growing up is complicated -- and love might be the biggest mystery of all. |
