Looking for J.J.

a startling book. You'd think a child killer would be a monster.
But, this book turns it around. It gives us the perspective of a girl who, when she was 10, killed her best friend. Now, she's served her time and is back out trying to live life again.

She struggles with what society also struggles with:

Does she deserve a life after she took one? Can a girl who kills at 10 change when she gets older, or is she just a monster?

Before this book, I would have thought I was VERY comfortable with the answer to that one. Now, well....

I thought this was an excellent novel. Cassidy is able to show clearly how Jennifer, who was basically a normal child with a kind heart, could be driven to kill. Neglected and ignored by everyone in her life, Jennifer never felt any sense of belonging until she became friends with Michelle and Lucy. When those relationships were threatened, she lashed out. I believe the murder was actually a desperate attempt to keep the friendship together.

Jennifer/Alice's redemption, and the difficulties she faces in her new life, are also very well portrayed. She will have to live with her guilt for the rest of her life, and will have to hide from the press. She may never be able to form lasting relationships.

I think this would be a good book for show more people to read who think that all murderers must be monsters. In truth, any of us, pushed hard enough, could turn into a killer. show less

I've been a fan of Anne Cassidy for years and this is my favourite of her books. It's a book that shocks you, firstly at it's content, but secondly and most importantly at the way it makes you feel about the protagonist: JJ. Jennifer Jones. Child murderer.
You are taken into the story through JJ's eyes, you do feel anger for what she did but you feel sorrow too. JJ is a person, fragile like everyone else and living with the burden of her past. She has been forced to start a new life under a new name, but just as she begins to get her new life going, the reporters show up, the secret investigators, people sent to search for someone who no longer exists: JJ.
The life she has tried to build is turned upside down and if she isn't careful she show more could lose everything, the boyfriend she loves, the friends she's made, even the identity that she's created for herself out of a past that doesn't seem to want to let her go.
A sad novel about redemption and forgiveness. How the good and bad guys are not so clearly defined in real life situations. show less

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3023886.html

Interesting story about a 17-year-old released from prison after serving the sentence for murdering her best friend when they were 10. It's a good portrait of how people deal with awful things that they themselves did in the past, and of the destructive role of the media. I didn't quite believe that the protagonist would have been able to put the psychological damage caused by her mother behind her, but perhaps that was needed for a good story. A grim and thought-provoking YA read.

Jennifer Jones, JJ, killed a ten year old girl and was locked away for her crime. That was six years ago, now the name JJ is once again headline news due to her release from prison. Although detention centre may be a more accurate description then prison, as you can hardly send a ten year old to prison, even for murder.

Now sixteen, JJ has a new name and a new life, with a chance to start fresh from her past actions. There are those who believe she should never be released, sometimes she even believes that herself. But only she knows the true reasons for her actions that day, and only she can decide if she deserves a second chance.

Looking For JJ is a fascinating story of a child murderer, of a girl searching for identity, of a haunting show more and terrible past. Neglected, ignored and starved for affection, this is a sad and tragic tale told incredibly with compassion and realism through the eyes of a killer, the memories of a ten year old, the hope of a sixteen year old. show less

Given to me by a colleague, a thought-provoking YA book.

JJ killed her best friend when she was 10. She goes to prison, but now she is a young woman, on the outside, trying to restart her life. Now known as Alice, she is living with her care worker trying to keep a step away ahead the press.

As a seventeen-year-old girl, Alice is trying to have a normal life, but she can't escape her past. And should she? While the author doesn't excuse what JJ did in her past, we do see how she came to be that little girl, a little girl capable of killing her own friend. It's hard to describe it without ruining the plot, but I think that Anne Cassidy got the balance between drama and humanity just right.

Three children walked away from the cottages on the edge of the town toward Berwick Waters. Later that day only two of them came back.
Everyone was looking for Jennifer Jones. She was dangerous, the newspapers said. The public had a right to know where she was …

A lot of Young Adult classification books should be made mandatory reading for aspiring adult authors in my opinion. They are clearly written, don’t suffer much in the way of ‘yawn factor’ in the middle and usually have a definitive story to tell, one that leaves some kind of impact. Looking for JJ is all of that – a gripping story of what it’s like to travel in a child murderer’s shoes. Three young girls are at the centre of the story, and the power play between show more them takes you back to primary school days when having a ‘best friend’ meant everything. One afternoon, Jennifer Jones lashed out in a fit of temper and now years later, is still being moved under false identities for her own protection.
I’m not sure why it was shortlisted for last year’s Whitbread Children’s Award because I found this to be a very adult book with danger and sadness at its core, but it deserves to be shortlisted somewhere simply because it’s a great read and very hard to put down. show less