The Killer's Cousin

Narrated by Nick Podehl. This wasn't as suspenseful as I expected (Nancy Werlin can do a taut thriller) but I found the premise of two young killers who understand each other thought-provoking. Who else could empathize with the guilt and pain? Not their schoolmates or parents. A dark, elite club to say the least.

After being aquitted of his girlfriends murder, David is moving to Cambridge to live with his estranged Aunt, Uncle, and 10 yr old cousin Lily. How did his girlfriend die? He acts pretty guilty...
He moves into the 3rd floor apartment where his other cousin, Kathy, died and he realizes that all is not well in this family. Julia and Vic don't speak to each other and when they do they use Lily as a pawn. And then there's Lily... odd, odd Lily. David can tell there's something really wrong with her, but her parents are in denial. She starts breaking into his apartment to constantly to pull pranks/destroy things, and it pushes David over the edge...
Will Vic and Julia ever see that Lily needs help? What really happened to Kathy? What really show more happened to Emily (the girlfriend)?

My first Audiobook!!! Yay me!!

Anyway...
I found this book addicting even though I knew where the plot was going. The only reaosn I gave it 3 stars is I found some of the details to be unbelievable.

Like: 1. Do you really expect me to believe that he killed a girl with one punch? I mean I guess it's humanly possible, but unlikely.
2. The Kathy thing was a little better but still... someone is going to take a giant sip of ammonia and not know...even with a cold I'm not sold on it.
3. All of sudden 3/4th of the way through the book, David and Lily are connected telepathically??? Wait, what? Yes they talk to each other through the ceiling...yeah I'm not buying that...
4. Ghosts? I don't know about that either...
5. I dont get how David made the leap from basically thinking she's a psychopath to instant forgiveness... what he did and what she did were 2 completely different things. Yes in the end 2 ppl died, but an accidental death or even an involuntary manslaughter is not the same as a murder, and Lily's was at least 2nd degree. I dont get where he's all "my Lily" all of a sudden...

I liked the way it made me feel about David, he was a very well developed character. Also I loved the supermarket card swaps, that was super-cute. The Epilogue made me smile, so at least it ended on a good note :) show less

The 1999 Edgar Award winner for Best Young Adult Mystery, The Killer's Cousin captures the reader's attention from page one. As the book begins, David Yaffe has been acquitted of murdering his girlfriend, Emily. Details are left ambiguous on purpose - is David a murderer or a kid who made a mistake? Either way, David shuns the public that followed the story in the newspapers. Due to the charges and the trial, David was unable to complete his senior year of high school, so his parents enroll him in a private school away from the media circus near his home and send him off to live with his aunt and uncle whose oldest daughter,Kathy, died 4 years earlier. Uncle Vic, Aunt Julia, and cousin Lily have a dysfunctional relationship which David show more finds himself thrust into. Aunt Julia resents David's presence in her house and avoids him, Uncle Vic doesn't speak to his wife, and Lily manipulates her parents into getting her own way.

While living in the upstairs apartment where Kathy used to live, David begins to have ghostly encounters with his dead cousin. What is she trying to tell him? Meanwhile, Lily begins harassing David by continually breaking into his apartment and destroying his property and stealing his belongings. When David confronts Vic and Julia about Lily's behavior, they turn against him instead. Things become increasingly tense and uncomfortable for David to the point at which he would like to move out of his aunt and uncle's home. But, Kathy's ghost continually convinces him to stay by pleading, "help Lily."

David can take Lily's abuse no longer and moves out. But, he is unexpectedly brought back together with her during a daring rescue in the story's culmination. At this time, David learns that Kathy needed him to "help Lily" by not only saving her from a burning home, but from her debilitating secret guilt as well. show less

Listened to the Brilliance Audio edition narrated by Nick Podehl. I liked this, but it is very clearly dated. Fascinating to read about old style web stuff though. I did think the big "twist" was pretty obvious, but I still enjoyed getting there. Podehl's narration was excellent.

David is almost finished with high school, but, he cannot complete his education in the area where he lives with his parents. Previously on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, he was found not guilty. Because of all the constant media attention, his parents make a decision to send him to live with relatives in Cambridge, MA.

While trying to sort through his life and consequences, it becomes increasingly difficult to navigate both his past, and the new home where, in particular, his Aunt, really does not want him in their house. This family also has a lot of garbage to sort through while also suffering from a great deal of grief because of a death/suicide of a teenage daughter.

The new family includes an Aunt who truly does not want show more him, a nasty, manipulative sociopath, child, and an Uncle who tries to deal with his own family dysfunction and grief while trying to make David comfortable in their home.

David is dealing with two dysfunctional families, the one he left behind, and the one where he was shuffled off, and he must come to grips with his past, while trying to cope with the present. show less

Wow. I love this book so much. Everything about it I liked. Why aren't there more books like this around?

I loved the mystery in this book. I also loved how everything unfolded. The characters were amazing and unique. I really wish this book was longer.

This is one of the only books I wish I could forget the story of so I can read it again. Then the story will be new again and I can experience it for the first time ALL over again.

David has been acquitted of the murder of his girlfriend and sent away to his uncle's house in Boston to finish his last year of high school. There it is apparent that there is friction between his aunt and uncle, and that his young cousin Lily is disturbed.
David may have been acquitted, but he still feels tremendous guilt. When he starts seeing what he thinks is his older cousin's ghost (in the attic room where she supposedly commited suicide), things really start to change.

The title is a play on words -- who is the killer, and who is really the killer's cousin?

Very effective story-telling.