Review: The Girl in the Park by Mariah Fredericks

Title:  The Girl in the Park

Author: Mariah Fredericks

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Date:  April 24^th 2012

Pages:  224

Genre:  Young Adult Contemporary Mystery

Series:  Stand Alone

Source:  Digital ARC

Goodreads Summary:

When Wendy Geller's body is found in Central Park after the night of a rager, newspaper headlines scream,"Death in the Park: Party Girl Found Strangled." But shy Rain, once Wendy's best friend, knows there was more to Wendy than just "party girl." As she struggles to separate the friend she knew from the tangle of gossip and headlines, Rain becomes determined to discover the truth about the murder. Written in a voice at once immediate, riveting, and utterly convincing, Mariah Frederick's mystery brilliantly exposes the cracks in this exclusive New York City world and the teenagers that move within it.

Review:

This was a very powerful and emotionally draining book for me. This book is a good mystery with a dark edge around each page. The author did a wonderful job with the feel of the story. I was able to feel for the main character and understand the deep feelings that she was experiencing due to her friend’s death.  The mystery of her friends death was a the focal of the story however the story dealt with many disturbing underlying issues that the main character comes to terms with about her friend.

The main character, Rain, wakes up to a call from her old best friend, Wendy, mother. Wendy is missing and later found dead in the park.  The author takes us along as Rain tries to understand Wendy’s death and solve the mystery of who killed her. She takes us down memory lane from moments in the girls’ past to the last night Rain saw Wendy alive. Even though Rain and Wendy grew apart, Rain is desperate to make sense of the murder. 

Rain is very likable and I think as a teen she would be easy to relate too. Everything she feels and experiences through the book seem realistic for her age and life. She is close to her mother, makes good grades, and is very insecure. She has a crush on a teacher, goes to parties, and visits her grandmother on a regular basis. She is a regular girl. I like the fact that she is not this super teen that makes all the right decisions and knows all the answers.

I really enjoyed reading this book and it was a real page turner for me. I hope that I see more from the author in the future.

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