An emotionally disturbed reporter reluctantly returns to her hometown to cover a series of murders when her boss figures she'd have the in as a local. She must dig up old insecurities at her mother's home having to endure the relationship that inspired her to carve words on every inch of her body other than her face.

Instead of turning inward, her little sister appears to be responding to the abuse with outward promiscuity and viscousness. The narrator must delve into both family and town secrets as she tracks the murderer and attempts to rescue her sister from the disaster of their home life.

The psychological symptoms were well written and I enjoyed getting into the minds of these girls who responded completely opposite (which is normal) and where those paths lead them. The ending almost surprised me; near the conclusion I figured out the end result, but I still thought it was an excellent twist. It made the crime more horrific than any of the options dangled before you. Creepy in a psychological sense, not a slasher film way.

What I did not enjoy was the sex and its unnecessary details. Teenage sex an drugs in a small town is not always a right a passage. There are many teens who don't think of sex so casually, or as weapon. Sure these girls would have had an unhealthy relationship with sex, but the author makes it seem like every teenager has a lot of sex and it's not a personal choice, just something that has to happen and if it doesn't than you're the freak. It felt like the book had raunchy and gorey elements just for the sake of having raunchy and gorey elements.

I did love the mystery, the psychology, and the twisted relationships. There were interesting points in the book. Here are a few of the conclusions I pondered:

Sometimes people are drowning and there is no way to get involved without dragging yourself down too. In those cases, what is the best option?

It's usually necessary to confront your past if you want to heal, but going back can hurt you more. When do you know when you're strong enough? I don't think the protagonist resolved her past, just endured a stay there.

When someone does something horrific because someone else has raised them to be so, how much fault do you lay in each camp? And can you add a reasonable amount of fault going back a third generation? Or does the victim becoming the villain loose sympathy?