LOCK AND KEY

Sarah Dessen has earned a well-deserved reputation tackling tough topics that resonate with young adult girls. Her latest is not up to her usual standard. Narrator Rebecca Soler seems to be on automatic pilot as she recites the story of 17-year old Ruby. Abandoned by her alcoholic mother, she is reunited with her older sister, Cora, who assumes custody after a ten-year absence. Ruby's story moves back and forth from the early days when Cora was her protector, to the middle years when Ruby and her mother were "two against the world," to her present attempts to figure out Cora's angle in showing up again. The story is uninspired melodrama, and Soler's performance is unable to give it life. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2008]