Anna Jarzab’s debut murder mystery, All Unquiet Things, immerses the reader in the elite world of Brighton Day’ School’s student body. It’s the start of senior year, and no one has been able to put the horrific murder of the beautiful, smart, self-destructive Carly behind them.
Carly’s first love, Neily, is still torn apart by grief, anger and pain after losing his beloved Carly twice – first when she cruelly dumped him in front of the whole school the year before her death; and second when he discovered her gunned-down body. She’d called him multiple times the day of her death and he’s tearing himself apart inside, believing that maybe he could have saved her. Her cousin and best friend, Audrey, is torn apart because she’s the one who got Carly caught up with Brighton’s fast crowd, which Audrey thinks led to Carly’s death, and because it’s Audrey’s dad who’s in prison as her killer.
Neily and Audrey don’t like each other at all, and yet both of them believe that the wrong person is in jail and Carly’s murderer is still lurking in the halls of Brighton. They begrudgingly join forces and dive into a dangerous investigation of Brighton’s most privileged students to uncover the secrets of Carly’s death.
Jarzab alternates between Neily and Audrey’s point of view, which allows the reader to really get to know them and see that beneath Neily’s brainy sarcasm and Audrey’s confidence, they’re both aching for understanding and healing. At times, there’s a disconnect between both Neily and Audrey’s sophisticated, self-perceptive inner monologues and their fairly sophomoric and juvenile dialogue with each other and their behavior. Aside from this, however, Jarzab delivers a solid mystery, with characters, plot, and pacing that will grab and hold onto the reader from first page to last.
- Posted by Cori
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