Reconstructing Amelia

Reconstructing Amelia had my attention from the first page. While in an important meeting at work, Kate gets a call from her daughter's school telling her that Amelia has been suspended effective immediately and Kate needs to come down as soon as possible. Upon arriving at her daughter's school though, Kate is told that Amelia was found dead after apparently jumping from the roof. Obviously devastated, Kate is having a tough time comprehending that her ambitious, high achiever daughter would jump to her own death.

The setup of the book is interesting because it alters back and forth from Kate's present day perspective to Amelia's story one month prior to what happened on the roof. As Kate tries to figure out what really happened to her daughter, she is also dealing with the stress of guilting herself into wondering if she worked too many long hours and wasn't around enough for Amelia even though the two had a very strong relationship. Then one day, Kate receives an annonymous text that says "She didn't jump" which sends Kate to begin poring through all of Amelia's email and texts and notebooks to try and find some clue to the truth.

Once Kate starts delving deeper into her daughter's life, she realizes just how little she actually knew about Amelia. She had so many secrets that Kate knew nothing about. Author Kimberly McCreight did a fantastic job of getting into the mindset of teenagers in high school. The characters' interactions with one another were very believable, as were the issues that they were all dealing with.

I enjoyed the suspense of the novel, working alongside Kate to try and figure out the truth behind Amelia's death. I liked the writing style - the story was fast-paced so I enjoyed that the writing was easier to read quickly. McCreight's debut novel is highly recommended and I can't wait to read more work by her!