Though betrayed and abandoned by her lifelong, childhood best friend, Charlie, Vera Dietz is compelled to posthumously clear his name. Charlie is dead. Killed in a fire he set at the pet store where Vera volunteered. That's the story his maniacal ex-girlfriend, Jenny, wants everyone to believe, but its a lie - Charlie left proof. Maybe Charlie's better off dead. Now he doesn't have to endure the sounds of his dad beating his mom, perform strange favors for a perverted man he encountered when he and Vera were eleven years old, or be victimized by evil Jenny whose lies caused him to turn against Vera and expose the open wound caused by her "stripper mother's" abandonment. Vera shouldn't care about Charlie's absence at all, but he was her best friend. More so, even in death, he just won't leave her alone. After retrieving notes left for her from the tree house where the two spent most of their childhood, Vera seeks to insure that Charlie will rest in peace by revealing her findings to the police, repairing her relationship with her father, and working through her personal issues.
I'm certain that fans of texts like Thirteen Reasons Why, Doll Bones, and others containing "voices heard from the grave" will enjoy the journey of Vera Dietz. The concepts of assumed destiny and breaking the cycle of destructive familial behaviors provide "teachable moments" for students in grades 7 and up.
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