Testimony by Anita Shreve, USA, 2008

It is definitely not a book I would read a second time, even though, to give Anita Shreve her due, the idea behind the book – the ripple effect of a thoughtless action – is interesting. That said, I felt that the characterization is uneven and, in many cases, not sufficiently established to enable the reader to sympathize fully with any of the main characters.

It is made very clear that the headmaster mismanaged the situation, and it is possible that, in his eagerness to protect everyone involved, including the school, he makes a number of disastrous decisions; however, given the fact that the incident had already gone viral on the internet by the time he became involved, I really doubt that anything he did or did not do would have saved the situation. However, if the question ‘why’ had been answered at an early stage of the drama, which, to my way of thinking, would have been more realistic, then much heartache could have been avoided. Of course, the book would then have been very different; in fact, it may not even have been written.
Definitely not the best book I have ever read, and I would think twice before reading another book by the same author. Although it does have a number of redeeming factors, I feel that it is a book that has been written very much with a certain section of the book-buying public firmly and centrally in mind.
A review of the book from the Los Angeles Times