Perdita by Faith Gardner

Published: August 1st, 2015

Publisher: Merit Press

Pages: 224

Copy: Edelweiss

Summary: Goodreads

Granted, Arielle has a vast, excitable imagination. But she's not imagining how strange and out of control her life becomes after the death by drowning of her older sister's best friend, Perdita. Not only does this death echo the death of Arielle's own older brother, ten years before, it leads to dreams and visions in which Perdita seems to be reaching out to Arielle, asking for her help. The only other explanation—that Arielle's high-strung emotions have finally caused her to break with reality—is even more terrifying. A story that builds to greater and greater heights of suspicion and fear, Perdita is also a multi-layered literary achievement that leaves no emotion untouched.

Perdita was a surprise.  I was expecting a regular mystery, but there were depths to it that I hadn't counted on.  I didn't find Arielle to be a particularly likeable character, but her situation is somewhat unusual and I definitely wanted to get to the bottom of things with her.  Tex was another interesting character and his confessions about his sister, Perdita, were something of a shocker at first - no spoilers here though.

The tension throughout the book is not high, but it is relentless.  We readers know instinctively that something is not right, but have to find out what along with the characters and what happens to Arielle was a big surprise - again, no spoilers, you'll have to read and find out.

To be honest it was a really quick read and I ended up  enjoying the book. That is right up to the last page.  I HATED the ending.  I understood it.  It made sense. I know why Ms Gardner wrote it that way. But I hated it. Just saying.  A nice contemporary mystery for fans of the genre.