Never Tear Us Apart

Murphy’s uneven contemporary romance relies on the overused device of alternating points of view. The perspective swings dizzily among Katherine Watts (both at age 12, when she is kidnapped, and at age 21, when she recalls her ordeal); Ethan Williams, a man who’s obsessed with 21-year-old Katherine; and 15-year-old Will Monroe, who rescued 12-year-old Katie from certain death at the hands of her abductor. The technique might have worked better if all the voices were speaking from their own present times. Instead, the characters’ younger selves are merely recollections of the past by Katherine and Ethan/Will, who changed his name to protect himself from a miserable family history. That aside, the premise and the follow-through do make for an intriguing concept: Ethan manipulates vulnerable, clueless Katherine into falling in love with him by exploiting their inescapable childhood bond. Murphy imbues these characters with genuineness and plausibility, and even readers who don’t love the structure of this story will look forward to the promised sequel. Agent: Kimberly A. Whalen, Trident Media Group. (Jan.)