Review:: Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess

Such a Great Book, May 8, 2009

One time ‘Daddy’s Girl’ Meredith holds a secret so terrible that it is talked about by everyone–her neighbors, her schoolmates and even people she doesn’t know.

Meredith’s testimony at her father’s trial three years ago was the nail in the coffin–and he should have been in prison for a very long time. His good behavior, however, gets him back on the streets and back into her house, free to become the predator he once was.

This time, however, Meredith is older and, now 15, she can trap him. In order to do so, she enlists the help of an ex-policeman neighbor, her handicapped boyfriend (who was also once a victim of her father’s appetites) and her boyfriend’s mother (the former lover of the monster himself).

In order to trap him and keep other children safe, Meredith will have to use herself as bait–an action that will alienate her from her mother–the one person’s in Meredith’s father’s corner.

Meredith makes some tough but believeable decisions. In Meredith, Weiss has created a strong, believeable character than fans of Laurie Halse Anderson’s ‘Speak’ will embrace and remember for years to come.