The Last Good Place of Lily Odilon

October 11, 2010
When his girlfriend, Lily, disappears in the middle of the night while he is asleep in her bed, 17-year-old Albert has no idea where she's gone or that he will soon become suspected of abducting her. Debut novelist Beitia's story unfolds in three time lines—one that describes past moments in Lily and Albert's relationship; another that unfolds in the hours and days after her disappearance; and a third, in which Albert and Lily's sister, Olivia, are on the lam looking for Lily. Their search is spurred by a mysterious postcard Albert receives from Lily right after she flees, which says that she is waiting for him in "The Last Good Place." Each time line fleshes out minute details, plunging readers deep into Albert's experience; the interlacing of the three creates real tension in the first half of the book. Pacing slows in the second half when revelations in the second story line are less climactic since readers already know certain details uncovered in the third thread. But the climax more than makes up for this and caps off a journey well worth taking. Ages 12–up.

November 15, 2010
Grades 9-12 This debut novel boasts a strong narrative drive, deft scene setting, and isnt bad at delivering catch-your-breath suspense, either. Beitias mystery starts, in classic fashion, with a lady vanishing: Lily smuggles her boyfriend, Albert, into her room and spends the night with him, but when he wakes up, he finds Lily gone, with only her cell phone and bag left behind. Albert quickly becomes the prime suspect in the disappearance and teams up with Lilys acerbic sister to find his missing girlfriend. The story careens among three different plots and time lines: Lilys disappearance, the search for Lily, and what happens just before the surprising climax. This splintered approach is a good mirror for Alberts obsessive, longing-filled ruminations about Lily, as well as for Lilys own mind, which had been disrupted by a mysterious accident months before. Its a complicated structure, but for the most part Beitia maintains control across the span of this dark thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2011

Gr 8 Up-Following a late-night accident 18 months earlier at her stepfather's dental office, Lily Odilon has been suffering from memory loss. Now her memories have begun to surface, but she has vanished. Her love interest and new guy in town, Albert, becomes an immediate suspect in her disappearance. He finds himself combining efforts with Lily's skeptical sister, Olivia, to find the girl he loves, clear his name, and bring those responsible for Lily's troubling recollections to justice. In this debut suspense novel, the teens search for elusive truths about Lily's family in their small Idaho town. Readers learn long before Albert and Olivia that Lily is sexually abused by her stepfather, a prominent dentist with high connections. With a chapter structure reminiscent of Paul Fleischman's Whirligig (Holt, 1998), the novel requires readers to piece together complete pictures of the characters in three divergent story lines in order to gain a full understanding of their plight. While the multiple narrative threads may prove challenging for those readers who easily lose their way, the straightforward, sometimes simple, language of the novel will provide some clarity in comprehension. Several contrived situations and a scarcity of fully developed characters may be seen as flaws to more sophisticated readers.-Colleen S. Banick, Tomlinson Middle School, Fairfield, CT

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