Cryer's Cross

Cryer's Cross Lisa McMann

Kendall has spent her entire life in Cryer's Cross, Montana. It's a small town of mostly potato farmers (Kendall's family included.) There are 24 people in her high school.

Last spring, Tiffany Quinn disappeared without a trace. This fall, Kendall's boyfriend Nico, is also gone.

Kendall has OCD. Everything must be just so. It also means that all the horrific possibilities of what happened to Tiffany or Nico replay in her head over. and over. and over. and over. and over. and over. and over. and over. and over.

It also means that she knows the smallest details of everything. She knows that Nico was sitting at the same desk that Tiffany sat at last year. Kendall knows that the graffiti carvings that look like they've been there forever? They're new. And they're changing. She hears the voices calling to her.

Thirty five. One hundred. Thirty five. One hundred.

Overall, I liked the first 90% of it. It was spooky and tense. I loved how Kendall's OCD was a hinderance and a help. I also love that this book wasn't a book about Kendall's OCD. It was about something else entirely. I love that it's a small town that ISN'T full of quirky characters. The interjections of the desks in between chapters at first was really weird, but at the end added to the scariness. I loved the depiction of how hard small town life can be. With Tiffany and Nico gone, when the new girl Marlena breaks her leg, the soccer season is cancelled because even though it's a co-ed, there are no longer enough people to make a full team.

I'm not sure how I felt about Kendall's relationship with new boy (Marlena's older brother Jacian). On one hand Kendall and Nico were dating because they had been best friends since they were born and it just seemed natural and Jacian makes her heart race... after Nico's disappearance (and not only as her boyfriend, but also her oldest and best friend) it seemed a bit... fast.

My big beef though, is with the end. It's rushed and totally anti-climatic. What was going on was really cool and FREAKY, but how McMann lets the readers know is a let-down. It just falls apart a bit. Which is sad because it had such promise and the majority of the book was SO GOOD.


ALSO, THE COVER. The one at the top of the review is the paperback cover. UGH. It makes it look like a KISSING BOOK. This is not a kissing book. So, it'll disappoint those looking for a kissing book and it won't get picked up by a lot of people because of it. The original hardcover with the spooky desk? SO MUCH BETTER. I think it represents the book much better and will appeal to more readers. Ah well.

Book Provided by... the publisher at a lovely dinner with McMann, at ALA Midwinter a few years ago.

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