The Anniversary by Alex Finlay
The Anniversary asks: Do you escape tragedy, or just learn to live with it? Every May 1st, a serial killer terrorizes a small Nebraska town. Seventeen-year-old Jules Delaney has beauty queen good looks and hidden depths. Seventeen-year-old Quinn Riley is dealing with the loss of his father while looking out for his non-verbal brother and aiming for college. Jules survives an attack by the May Day killer, and Quinn tries to break up a fight and finds himself looking at prison. While in prison, his mother is murdered. The structure of the story keeps the pace brisk as we drop in on these two characters once a year on May 1st, learning what has happened to each of them in the intervening year. Further tragedy strikes each of their lives, deepening the physical and emotional scars they each bear. Each visit on May 1st reveals how another year has shaped them. Alternating perspectives between Jules and Quinn sustain suspense. Their feelings for one another always simmer, but the...
