Abroad

March 31, 2014
A mystery based on the Amanda Knox saga unfolds in this strong fifth novel from the author of Girls in Trucks. Tabitha (“Taz”) Deacon, an Irish student studying abroad in Grifonia, Italy, finds herself caught up in the glamorous lives of a trio of beautiful, and close, fellow students while also nurturing a friendship with her quirky American flatmate, Claire. As Taz spends more time with the Brit Four Society—the nickname bestowed upon her quartet by its leader, Jenny Cole—she becomes increasingly aware of tension beneath the surface. Why don’t the girls let Taz pay for anything? How do they know people in such positions of power? Why do the other girls seem afraid of Jenny? And at the center of the plot is the beautiful, odd Claire, who will be inextricably bound to Taz’s fateful experience. Taz’s friendships develop—and then unravel—against a backdrop of ancient history, in a town that has plenty of its own underlying tension. The similarities to the Amanda Knox story are myriad, and at times distracting, but Crouch explores an overshadowed element of that case: the victim, her thoughts and dreams and mistakes, as well as those she’ll never be able to have or make. “We were all alive, and we loved and hated and lived brilliant, messy existences,” Taz says.

May 1, 2014
Foreign students in Italy: One winds up dead in this awkward riff on the notorious Amanda Knox/Meredith Kercher case.Tabitha "Taz" Deacon is Irish, an exchange student from an English university. From the outset, Crouch (Men and Dogs, 2010, etc.) designates narrator Taz as the victim; she will eventually, in a nod to Sebold's The Lovely Bones, address the reader from beyond the grave. Taz is just one more in a centuries-old line of Umbria's sacrificial victims, whose profiles pop up throughout the novel. In Grifonia, the stand-in for Perugia, Taz takes a particular interest in Etruscan mythology. This is commendably high-minded, but Grifonia is swarming with students itching to get laid, and Taz is lonely, with limited sexual experience. Luckily, she runs into a trio of girls who make her the fourth member of their Brit Four Society. Their leader is Jenny, and her advice is succinct: You're only young once, so don't take just one lover-take 10. The girls have access to all the best parties because, it emerges, they're a drug ring: procuring, storing and selling the stuff. The failure to convince us of this is the hole at the heart of the novel. Taz must also reckon with her American roomie, Claire, who's loyal, loudmouthed, needy and too beautiful for her own good. Not surprisingly, she scores even more often than Jenny, while Taz makes out with their Italian neighbor; rough trade but satisfying. Hookups and breakups: The novel's movement is circular, with too many characters riding the sex and drug carousel, and lacks suspense. Taz's murder only happens because she's pressured to connive in the drug business; the heat is on, and she hides the product in an Etruscan burial chamber, a 21st century addition to its layers of history.A crass use of a still-active murder case.

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April 1, 2014

Irish exchange student Tabitha Deacon has chosen to come to Grifonia, an Italian city overrun by university students. Eschewing the exchange program's housing offer, she quickly finds a rental room in a cottage with three other young women, two Italians, and an American. Considering herself an outsider, Tabitha is excited when Jenny, a popular girl from their college back in Ireland, takes an interest in her during orientation. With Jenny and her friends, Tabitha quickly finds herself in a whirlwind of parties replete with alcohol and drugs and not much studying. But as Tabitha grows closer to her new friends, she discovers their dark secrets, culminating in a tragedy before their year abroad ends. VERDICT Crouch (Girls in Trucks) skillfully explores how the influence of peer pressure and the desire to be accepted impacts insecure young women. Following along the lines of Amanda Knox's life prior to the murder of Meredith Kercher (also explored in Jennifer duBois's Cartwheel), the author presents a riveting look into the social dynamics of young women freed from the social dictates of their childhood homes.--Joy Gunn, Paseo Verde Lib., Henderson, NV

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2014
Crouch (Men and Dogs, 2010) draws inspiration from recent headlines and ancient Italian history alike in this based-on-fact tale of an innocent on foreign ground. The lucky recipient of a study-abroad scholarship, TabithaTaz for shortleaves her native Ireland for Grifonia, Italy, where she and hundreds of other college students are thrown together without supervision and nothing to do but study and explore. Against her expectations, Taz finds herself running with a glamorous crowd. Crouch lets us know from the novel's first lines that things are not what they seem, and as the plot unspools, the reader learns, through flashbacks to the lives of women of the past, just how deeply the secrets of Grifonia are buried. Crouch steadily strengthens an ominous undercurrent sweeping toward Taz, whose fragile, eager personality Crouch conveys with mastery along with Taz's equally unique and compelling friends and lovers. The novel's voice is absolute, its appeal irresistible, and the ending is simultaneously poignant and horrific. Abroad will not disappoint any reader, especially those interested in Europe's rich history and ambience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)