One of the real pleasures of this book was the absence of the predictable plot turn; Coady sets up the chain of events so that the connection between Guy--a poor kid from a tumultuous home--and Corinne--a girl with everything in her favour--happens first. But it all changes from there. Coady's depiction of explosive violence uses tight poetic language, and yet her touch is light, moving from the teenager characters to middle-aged men, all of them believable and at least partially sympathetic. It was a refreshing and lovely book. ( )