Reconstructing Amelia -- A Tale of Tragedy and the Dark Lives of Teens

In this day and age, privacy and technology do not a happy marriage make. When your personal information is readily available to anyone online, it's hard to know who you can trust. Online, anyone can be anything they want to be.

Reconstructing Amelia, a novel by Kimberly McCreight, is a tragic story about a girl who is the victim of the dark side of the internet.

The story focuses on Kate, a single mother and law firm partner, who one day gets an urgent phone call from her daughter's exclusive private school. This comes as a shock to Kate because her daughter is generally a well-behaved over-achieving daughter. She is informed that Amelia is to be suspended for cheating. When the confused and concerned mother arrives at the school, she is in for an even greater shock. The saddest, ultimate shock a parent could ever receive.

Her daughter is dead.

Amelia jumped from the school's roof in an act of impulsive suicide, clearly distraught over the cheating scandal and fear of facing the consequences. Overcome with grief, Kate tries to come to grips with this life-shattering news. One of the hardest things for a parent to do is have to bury their child. Amelia had her whole life ahead of her, a bright future, and now it has dissolved to nothing. Cut short before its time. Kate cannot comprehend what is happening.

Then she gets an anonymous text:

Amelia didn't jump.

As the story progresses, Kate learns that her daughter had a secret life that she knew nothing about. Kate becomes determined to find out what those secrets were and what lead to Amelia's life to be tragically cut short. Searching through Amelia's Facebook updates, e-mails, texts, Kate pieces together the last days of her daughter's life.

Reconstructing Amelia is Ms. McCreight's debut novel. It explores the secret world of teenagers, first loves, hidden friendships, and the cruelty that can happen. Anyone who has gone through the high school system can understand what happens when teenagers get emotional, feel intensely enough to do dangerous things. The frustrations and confusion of Kate is sympathetic and leaves a sense of guilt that the reader knows that these things happen and it often seems like there is nothing you can do about it. The reader feels compelled to comfort Kate, and join her in her investigation of her daughter's hidden life. 

This book is recommended for young adults, as the content matter is a bit mature and focuses on a delicate subject of youth violence and cyber-bullying. It was a definite page-turner thriller that keeps you yearning to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. 

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimbery McCreight is available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, and retail booksellers. It is also currently available for the Nook and Kindle.