Do Not Become Alarmed

Once again, a novel from a “best of” list. Once I realized this wasn't meant to be a fast-paced, white knuckled thriller, I enjoyed the book more. Until I came to this insight, which was about three quarters of the way through, I kept wanting the narrative to have more twists, turns, and excitement. There is drama in the story, but it's not really in the plot points, but rather within the conflict which arises internally and externally among the characters. Yet, too much of this drama felt too tidy. It's about three families, each neatly constructed with a boy and a girl. And not to give a spoiler, but even the conclusion and the long epilogue felt too tidy as well. For a novel with a truly gut-wrenching premise and at least one agonizing scene describing about the worst thing that could befall a teen-aged girl, the conclusion wrapped things up nice and cleanly. In life, things do wrap up smoothly, but often not this perfectly.