Undone

July 28, 2008
In a sometimes overwrought voice, 15-year-old Serena Moore narrates a story that feels all the more familiar for every twist put in by the debut author. Raised in a small upscale Colorado town by a mother who's flatly refused to disclose the identity of her father, Serena falls under the influence of Kori, a girl from the right side of the tracks who's turned into the school wild child. When Kori dies in a car accident, Serena takes it on herself to fulfill the five secret dreams Kori dashed off, at their favorite teacher's suggestion, as ways to “tempt fate,” and the list holds clues to Serena's mother's clandestine nighttime disappearances and to her paternity. Taylor throws in mysterious strangers, computer gaming, rock music, teen pregnancy, hidden abuse and more—these elements overcrowd the plot without deepening the linked mysteries of Serena's father and Kori's own family secrets. The results feel obvious and forced. Ages 14–up.