If one is interested in psychology, or the behavioral aspects of adolescents, then this will be very engaging.

I enjoyed the switching between past and present. Although the patterns were set, the ending is quite a surprise.

It is not full of psychobable, but rather character analysis.

It dragged in the middle, but picked up in the last third of the book. The ending pulled the whole story together. It was worth reading to the end. ( )

Sue Walker is a brilliant new British mystery writer. This is her first book (2005). It is a story that takes place in 1977 and in 2003. 7 disturbed, highly intelligent teenagers spent time in an unusual residential treatment centre in 1977 in Scotland. The book includes intriging clinical notes from 1977 and as the book starts following the lives and later contacts in the lives of these now outwardly successful people the tension builds. Something terrible happened when they were together, a tie that binds, a secret they must never tell and must ensure that no one in their group must ever tell.
So far as I know this book and her next book "The Reckoning" has not been published in the US, only the UK and Canada. They are in pb and should be easily available at Chapters,ca or Amazon.ca or any UK online store. I do now see that there is a Harper Torch pb which may be the US ed. ( )