Easily one of my favorite reads of 2017 thus far. The tension in the small town of Port Sabine is evident from the first pace, and in the slow heat of a Texas summer, with mysteries and secrets simmering just below the surface of each character, that tension winds tighter and tighter as Mercy Lewis, Port Sabine's goldenchild, begins to unravel. With the notable exception of Mercy's love interest, who seemed a little "too good to be true" for me, each character was a complicated and beautifully drawn.

Parssinen's writing is highly literary, which sometimes feels like a real rarity in young adult fiction, but also incorporates elements of suspense, romance, stories of friendship, family issues, religion, and issues of class, race, and sexism without ever coming close to being an "issues" novel. Excellent.