The Other Side of Dark

August 5, 1986
Stacy, 17, awakens from the coma she's been in for four years, following a gunshot wound, and finds her world is drastically altered. The shooting incident that injured her also killed her mother. Her older sister is married and pregnant. Hairstyles, clothing and friends have changed. Stacy, if her memory returns, can put the man who shot her and murdered her mother behind bars. Soon every face she sees looks both familiar and strange, and the attention of a boy named Jeff is welcomed and feared. Because of press reports, the murderer knows that Stacy can find him. She's afraid she's being watched. And when her memory and the truth about the killer come back to her, Stacy faces the darker side of herself. The compelling premise of Stacy's lost years and Nixon's mastery of suspense are gripping. But readers want to know more about Stacy's adjustment; there is no real period of mourning for her mother, and the ending leaves unresolved issues.

September 1, 1986
Gr 7-10 -Awakening from a four-year coma, Stacy learns that the intruder who shot her also killed her mother, and that she was the only witness. Stacy has to come to terms with her new identity: physically a 17 year old, yet mentally still a 13 year old, she has missed four years of growing up and of popular culture. At the same time, she realizes that she has to identify the killer before he can silence her. Stacy is a vivid character whose need to be brought up to date provides some comic moments, such as her confusion at new hair styles and her unfamiliarity with pasta salad. While this mystery is generally tense and dramatic, the first-person narrative does remove the edge from some of the suspense. One other weakness is Stacy's love interest, a narcotics officer masquerading as a high-school senior. Nixon does not convince readers that this 23-year-old man would fall in love with someone who in so many ways thinks and acts like a 13 year old. Yet the clever premise, the quick pace, and the determined protagonist should attract and hold readers. David Gale, "School Library Journal"