Rundown

Struggling to gain the attention of her mother, father, and boyfriend, Jennifer Thayer invents a shocking story about fighting off a serial rapist, but soon finds herself trapped by her own lies.

Grade 10 Up-A book about a younger sibling who craves attention while her family is preoccupied with her older sister's wedding. Jennifer, a high school student, claims to have been assaulted while jogging near the U.C. Berkeley campus. Her accusation is credible because a rapist has been active in the area over the past several weeks, so she gets plenty of attention and concern from her parents, her peers, her former boyfriend, the police, the media, etc. And, it makes her feel rotten. At first, only her beautiful, brilliant, self-centered sister, Cassandra, suspects the fabrication. But as the days progress, the police probe deeper, the solicitousness of friends becomes its own kind of torture, and the veneer of perfection that surrounds Jennifer's family wears ever thinner. She is increasingly unable to cope with her deliberate deception and is aware that it hasn't helped her face the realities in her life: her jealousy of Cassandra, her distress over her father's possible extramarital affair, and the distancing she feels from her mother. She attempts suicide, has second thoughts, and finally reaches out to the police detective who has been investigating the alleged crime. Deft characterization and adroit descriptions of setting and motivation raise Cadnum's writing above the commonplace. Readers may not always like the people who populate this book, but they will believe they are real. From the first sentence: "One month before my sister's wedding I did a terrible thing," teens will want to know what comes next.
Miriam Lang Budin, Mt. Kisco Public Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Readers will likely be both fascinated and repelled by the intricate web of deception woven by the 16-year-old narrator of this sometimes confusing psychological drama. Cadnum (Heat) shows rather than tells Jennifer's desperate need for affection and attention when she meticulously fakes an attack by a serial rapist, then reports it to the police. Her story about fending off the man gains her publicity and sympathy, but instead of feeling gratified, she suffers pangs of guilt and moments of panic. Her twisted relationships with her highly successful parents, her self-centered older sister and her ex-boyfriend are slowly revealed, providing insight into her personality. During the investigation of the case, Jennifer is terrified of being found out. At the same time, she longs to be freed from her lies. The author uses bold, dramatic strokes to paint a haunting portrait of his protagonist and, in his characteristically elliptical style, leaves plenty of blank space for readers to fill in. But while the pacing is as taut as ever, the narrative lacks the cohesion of Cadnum's best worksAreaders may wish that the author had shaded in some of the gaps. Ages 12-up. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

For a girl who isby most standardsnot perceived to be extraordinary, it is not easy living with a family of beautiful people. Jennifer Thayer both envies and resents her gourmet restaurateur/salad-dressing entrepreneur father, her industrial- psychologist mother who seems to care more about her work than about her younger daughter, and especially older sister Cass: lovely, talented, brainy, and preparing for marriage. Desperate for attention, Jennifer fakes an attempted rape, and at first, it works; for once in her life she is at center stage. Soon, however, the detective on the case figures out that something in the girl's story isn't right, and suspects that Jennifer's mother has been abusing her. Caught up in the net of lies, Jennifer has to decide whether or not she can live with a growing sense of shame and guilt. Once again, Cadnum (Heat, 1998, etc.) has dissected the mind of one of society's troubled young people, who has everything on the surface but is desperately trying to fill an unnamed emptiness. Deep, dark, and moving, this is a model tale of adolescent uneasiness set amid the roiling emotions of modern life. (Fiction. 12-14) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Teenager Jennifer Thayer does a terrible thing: she reports an attempted rape, but only she knows that she's lying, that the crime was never committed. As Jennifer has planned, the police think (and the media hope) that the "assault" is the work of a serial rapist who has been attacking women in the area. And for a while, Jennifer is the center of attention. The spotlight, which has always been trained on her spoiled older sister, Cassandra, is now focused on her. But then Jennifer makes a mistake. Cadnum demonstrates his usual mastery of mood and characterization in this acutely observed portrait of a wealthy girl whose jealousy of her sister is the motivation for her desperate act. This is a novel about voices--about family silences and failures of communication, about what is said and what is too often left unsaid. Those expecting a fast-paced novel of suspense will be disappointed, however. Cadnum seems to be less interested in plot than in creating an atmosphere of foreboding and exploring subtle nuances of character. He's wonderfully successful at both, but reading Rundown is ultimately like watching a Hitchcock movie in slow motion. Michael Cart