Booklist Review

College professor Emma Greene lives with her husband and five-year-old daughter, Maggie, on a small farm outside Jackson, Virginia. With her husband away on a business trip and her daughter in bed upstairs, she discovers three of her students, beer cans in hand, trespassing on her property. One of them, Kyle, a senior, is a known troublemaker, and when Emma tries to escort them off the property, an argument ensues. When she discovers Kyle has stolen her jewelry, a heated interaction quickly becomes a violent altercation, one whose resolution will change the lives of everyone involved. As Maggie enters high school, she still suffers from nightmares as a result of witnessing the event and then quickly discovers that her new geometry teacher is one of the students from that long-ago night. As she finds out the truth behind that fateful night, Maggie learns some unexpected lessons about anger, loyalty, and her mother's role in the tragedy. In a beautifully written, well-paced novel, Brodie delivers a thought-provoking examination of a brutal crime and its aftermath and the many shades of guilt and innocence.--Gladstein, Carol Copyright 2010 Booklist