I liked this story, but there was something missing. The historical details were fascinating, Iris' relationships were intriguing and complex, the mystery held my attention, but it didn't all come together for me.

One of the things that bothered me was Iris' constant need to lie to everyone. Sometimes she was conscious of this and other times she just seemed kind of dumb. The ending just kind of petered out, too which left me a little disappointed at the end.

But the issues within the book - gossiping, friendship, parent-teen issues, lying - are all widely applicable and I liked Iris in spite of herself. Even when I wanted to shake her for being so silly sometimes, I still wanted things to turn out okay for her.

Death. Suicide.