cover image THE FREE FALL

THE FREE FALL

Jane Ratcliffe, . . Holt, $16.95 (192pp) ISBN 978-0-8050-6667-8

Violet Gwendolyn Hitchcock, called "Let" by her friends, is the disarming 16-year-old narrator of Ratcliffe's engrossing first novel. Let is searching for "the shine" (an elusive feeling of "grace"), but she looks in all the wrong places. Nevertheless, she maintains an aura of innocence even as she slowly surrenders to a downward spiral of alcohol, drugs and sex. The author sustains sympathy for her heroine by making readers privy to the obsessive thoughts that begin to drown out the girl's rational impulses, as well as the sense of humor that keeps her afloat. For instance, as Henry, the 19-year-old man of her dreams, begins to pressure Let sexually, she says to herself, "The thing was, I did want to be with him, just not quite like that. Not quite so all at once. I guess I was wanting at least a first date." Other scenes in which a note of comedy takes the edge off of Let's fears: her best friend, CJ, instructs her on how to apply a condom, and her first time snorting coke. But the cumulative effect of Let's breezy tone has strange repercussions when, inevitably, tragedy does strike: readers may come away ultimately unruffled by the event. Ratcliffe also sets up the novel as a flashback, and Let's judgment in hindsight occasionally detracts from the developing action. Still, readers will keep the pages turning as this credible protagonist chronicles her disturbing descent. Ages 14-17. (Aug.)