This unsettling novel about a romance and falling out between two misfits with troubled pasts is an engrossing, if uneven read based on the experiences of 18 year old Jason Wilder, who is living on his own following the departure of his mother, an alcoholic, to Florida.

When Jason meets Meili in in-school detention, he’s immediately drawn to her. Originally from Hong Kong, Meili’s tough exterior and difficult family history involving bad business deals that have sent her into hiding for protection prove an irresistable combination for Jason, whose back story includes an incident in which he accidentally badly injured a younger child when he caused a fire. The two reveal more and more about their backgrounds to one another, particularly after Meili must hide for a time at Jason’s house from the police, and form an intense romantic and sexual relationship, fairly explicitly described, that ends badly.

A psychological twist at the end calls into question both Jason and Meili’s motivations throughout though it seems clear that Jason, who tells readers from the beginning in his frank, Holden Caufield-esque voice that he can only tell the story as he believes it to be true,  may be the more unreliable narrator of the two.

Interesting and provocative, though too far emotionally removed from both main characters to inspire a lot of empathy among readers, this should appeal to older high school readers who favor authors like Kevin Brooks and Melvin Burgess.

Reviewed by Brooke Faulkner, McArtur Public Library, Biddeford