The Local News by Miriam Gershow

This page turner with its brilliantly drawn characters is one of those reads you will think about long after the last page is finished.
The story starts with the disappearance of Danny Pasternak, a popular High School Jock who disappears in somewhat unlikely circumstances and the story takes us along with his 15 year old sister Lydia who is the total opposite of her brother as she traverses with family, friends, relatives and an intrusive media the trajectory that such an event sets in place.
Lydia wasn`t really all that fond of Danny, their relationship could be prickly to say the least and in the wake  of his death Lydia is left feeling under appreciated and unwanted until those she was once ignored by take her up and make her somewhat of a pet, they were Danny`s friends and now their hers but only to a certain degree and really only for their own appeasement, so it doesn`t take much imagining to see the consequences for her of his disappearance, especially as she grapples with the emotional implications of her feelings about Danny.
This is a very believable book, there is no artifice to it, no feeling of fake sentimentality. The author takes you into the chaos that is these peoples lives and propels you along with them. The descriptions can at times be gritty and almost chillingly cold but this is relieved by humour in unexpected places and a lack of entitlement. Each character brings their own agenda and baggage and the consequences of some of their actions and motives is not pretty. I felt that this book had a number of characters that were quirky, odd, somewhat different but there were alot of teens in the mix and I came to appreciate that they were going through their own developmental struggles within the setting of the book and their differences actually gave you greater understanding and added to their realness. The saddest characters I felt were obviously Danny Pasternak`s parents and here the author showed a marvellously deft hand at portraying their disintegration and eventually their ability to move on and live, the fact that they were able to move on from one another and make new lives. I liked the reunion as it took you forward with the characters and it tied up some loose ends.
I couldn`t help but love Lydia and her friend David but I loathed  Bayard, the French exchange student, he really grated on me. All in all a very good read, which highlighted how far the lines have blurred between grief in private and grief in public and the way the media informs how we react to these jarring events in our society.
Available in paperback and from the Library System.

Finding Chandra by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz

Every now and again I like to read a True Crime book but these days it is awfully hard to find one that isn't all Slashers, Vampires or the Mafia. This book ticked all my boxes, sad as it is.

Chandra Levy burst into worldwide prominence in May 2001 when she completely vanished in Washington D.C. where she was doing an Internship with The Bureau of Prisons and unbeknown to but a few was having an affair with her local Congressman who like Chandra hailed from California. From the moment that Chandra's father Robert Levy received a some what evasive answer from Gary Condit, a media furor unlike anything seen since erupted with Gary Condit as the main attraction and the hunt for Chandra becoming almost a sidebar. News outlets on all coasts and across the world carried the story, with lies, half truths and banner headlines the norm. Although there had been a series of attacks in Rock Creek Park before and after Chandra disappeared few including the very bumbling Police Force refused to believe that the suspect in these attacks had anything to do with Chandra's disappearance; signed, sealed and delivered it had to be The Congressmen or his imaginary Henchmen, even when Chandra's body was found in said park and she was known to run regularly in the area.

It really took the combined efforts of The Washington Post and a change in Law Enforcement Personnel before the blindingly obvious became apparent and the person who was sitting in a Federal Facility convicted of previous attacks in this area was charged with Chandra Levy's murder. Chandra dead at 24 and Gary Condits career blown out of the water, this well written book is a page turner with many twists and turns, way above the average book found in this genre.