The Killer's Cousin

The Killer's Cousin by Nancy Werlin, ISBN 0385325606, Delacorte Press, 1998, 229 pages.

Teaser: David finally thinks he will have peace after being acquitted of murder and moving to his Aunt and Uncle's house. But little does David know that his relatives hide some dark secrets.
Plot Summary: Seventeen year-old David Yaffe has just been acquitted of murder and he has moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to live with his Aunt and Uncle and to finish his senior year of high school.  He has been offered shelter and a place to escape from the media.  All seems well at first, but then everything does not seem welcoming.  He sees shadows and his 11-year old cousin Lily is uninviting and strange.  David begins to wonder why Lily is so mean and haggressive towards him.  The longer David stays with his Aunt and Uncle the more time David thinks about his past.  It also becomes harder to avoid Lily and her tantrums.  David begins to unravel a deep dark secret that will change his life forever.
Critical Evaluation: This novel is very haunting and is ultimately about guilt.  Both David and Lily feel guilt for the deaths that have happened.  David was acquitted of murder, but he still feels guilty that he did kill his girlfriend accidentally.  Lily also feels guilt, but at the same time she tests David to see if he is likely to kill again.  David and Lily's relationship is very unfriendly and because David has gone through so much emotionally he just does not have anything left inside him to deal with Lily.  In the end of this terrifying novel both characters learn that their punishment is to live with the regret that they killed someone. 
Author Information: According to the author's website http://www.nancywerlin.com, she was born and raised in Peabody, Massachusetts, and lives near Boston.  She earned a Bachelor's degree in English from Yale.  Since then she has worked as a technical writer and editor for several computer software and Internet companies, while writing fiction at the same time.  She was a U.S. National Book Award finalist for The Rules of Survival and won the Edgar Award for The Killer's Cousin in 1999. 
Genre: Mystery
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalking Ideas: When did you have suspicions that Lily might have played a part in Kathy's death? 
Reading Level/Interest Age:14+
Challenge Issues:  Murder. If the book was challenged I would go to, ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.
Why Included? This intricate mystery novel won the Edgar Award in 1999.