From Publishers Weekly Teen angst and jealousy spin out of control in this tale of a tragic love triangle. Brothers David and Michael have been in love with Kay since she moved in next door; seduced first by the novelty of Kay's missing father, then by her burgeoning sexuality, the boys become her best friends. But as the three move into their teenage years, golden boy David develops a daredevil streak and Michael's jealousy swells. When they get to college, David and Kay embark on an all-consuming affair, while Michael watches and simmers. All comes to a head on a nighttime repeat of their childhood rambles through the Connecticut countryside, which ends at the French King Bridge. Much of the novel is devoted to reconstructing the next half hour: what is clear is that Kay and David both dropped acid, then David jumped off the bridge believing he could swim to shore and never made it. As in Osborn's previous novel, Patchwork, alternating points of view tell a story of parental blindness and all-consuming love. In the end, it hardly matters why David jumped, or why Kay didn't. The point is that David was one of those magnetic but destructive personalities who, even in death, leave behind a trail of hurt. Osborn's prose is clean and neat, but the curious flatness of the narration-emotions blankly stated instead of evoked-robs the story of depth and power.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal Adult/High School-David was the golden one. Kay and Michael were his satellites. Growing up in Western Massachusetts, where the boys' father and Kay's mother taught at the local university, the three friends, isolated by space and inclination, were inseparable. David, slightly older than the other two, was a high achiever, scholastically and athletically, and the focus of his father's dreams. When David and then Kay went to the university, they became more than friends and Michael was left behind. The novel opens on one night in the early spring, when David, on an LSD trip, jumps from the French King bridge over the snow-swollen river and drowns. In that instant, everyone's life changes forever. Michael, resentful of Kay's connection to his brother and everyone's distress over David's death, indicates that Kay might have pushed David. His distraught father seizes upon the possibility as an explanation for this seemingly inexplicable event and pursues the idea with the police. Kay, already mistrusted by them for not having been truthful about her relationship with David or their taking acid, is arrested and tried for manslaughter. The trial and its aftermath dissolves one marriage, causes Kay's mother to move away, results in Kay's leaving school and listlessly moving on with her life, and Michael's continuing resentment and lack of direction. Told from three points of view, shifting in time from the event to its aftermath, the story sweeps readers along. The reactions are in keeping with character, and the characters are easily understood. A thought-provoking read.
