Exile

Reviewed by: Brooke Faulkner - McArthur Public Library, Biddeford, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: February 7, 2015

Review

A high school dedicated to supporting and producing talent for the southern California music scene and beyond is the backdrop for this promising first novel in the Exile trilogy, which appealingly blends a coming-of-age romance with a mystery involving a gifted teen musician named Caleb who has just discovered he's the son of a long dead legendary lead singer for a fictional band called Allegiance to North. Told from the perspective of Summer (her middle name, which she uses as she hones her considerable skill as a band manager, though she's known by her super straight parents who disapprove of her music business aspirations by her first name, which is Catherine). Summer's a smart and sympathetic protagonist and her romance with Caleb is believable and sweet. It's effectively juxtaposed against a mystery concerning hidden tapes of lost songs recorded by Caleb's famous, but seriously drug addicted and mentally ill dad before he died and plenty of band scene drama. Readers will likely have to be fairly serious music fans to appreciate this one, but for those that are, they'll quickly identify with the earnest descriptions of the emotional power of chord progressions and moody, clever lyrics and will be pulled in by the quest to find the lost tapes. Fans of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist should love this one.

Overall Book Score: very good