cover image Last Train to Babylon

Last Train to Babylon

Charlee Fam . Morrow, $14.99 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-232807-6

Fam portrays early twenty-something arrested development in her somewhat bleak debut. Aubrey, living in Manhattan with a boyfriend she's more or less satisfied with, working for a news site she doesn't despise, is probably doing as well as could be expected for someone her age, even if she does drink too much and have passing thoughts of suicide. She thinks she's escaped her Long Island upbringing and the friends and foes of her youth, but when she learns that her high school best friend, Rachel, has committed suicide, the past comes rushing back. Torn over whether to attend the funeral, Aubrey feels compelled to return to her hometown anyway%E2%80%94and smack into the memories of what drove her and Rachel apart. Events surrounding Rachel's funeral and disastrous "after party" alternate with those leading up to Rachel and Aubrey's senior year falling out, illustrating how those events still loom large in Aubrey's consciousness, even years later. Unfortunately, the attempts to build intrigue by delaying the revelation of a particular horrific event in Aubrey's past often just make the narrative feel artificially drawn out and sluggish rather than suspenseful. Aubrey and Rachel's story does, however, illustrate the complicated and often inscrutable nature of high school girls' volatile relationships and their long-lasting scars. (Oct.)