Fall for Anything

"Eddie’s father, a brilliant but reclusive photographer, has killed himself, and Eddie is struggling for answers far beyond the one-line note her father left behind. Each night, she sneaks out her window, down the roof, and away from home. Sometimes she hangs out with her friend Milo—with whom she has trouble connecting since the suicide—but most often she goes to the old, abandoned warehouse where her father ended his life, wandering in the dark and looking for something to explain his actions. What she finds there is Culler, a photography student of her father’s, who is also searching for answers and whom Eddie latches onto as a last hope for understanding. Culler shows Eddie what he has discovered—her dad’s initials carved into a door at the warehouse—then leads her on a quest to find more markings and messages, stalking the desolate places where her father took his final photographs. This novel is mysterious, romantic, and excruciating in its suspense, as both the reader and Eddie know that something is not quite right for a long time before the pieces fall into place. And fall they do, in an emotional culmination that shakes Eddie to the core. Both hauntingly written and compulsively readable, this will be a fast favorite with readers."—Booklist (starred review)

 

"Seventeen-year-old Eddie Reeves's father, a once-famous photographer, commits suicide by jumping off the roof of an abandoned warehouse. Seth Reeves left a note saying only that he loved Eddie and her mother, Robyn, but that he had to leave. As Eddie grapples with the question of why, she finds comfort in her best friend, Milo, until his ex-girlfriend moves back to town and drives a wedge between them. Then Eddie meets Culler Evans, her father's student and protégé, with whom she immediately feels a romantic connection as well as a shared sense of loss. Culler discovers that some photographs Seth left in his studio are numbered, like a map, with a fragmented message at each location. Ignoring Milo's disapproval, Eddie and Culler set out on a road trip to each building to put the puzzle together. This novel convincingly captures the feelings of confusion, isolation, and anger that accompany losing a loved one to suicide, along with the implicit desire to hold the victim accountable for the sadness he's caused. Eddie's tendency to use strong language and make hyperbolic statements reflects her age and the intensity of the tragedy she's experienced . . . [An] expertly crafted novel about the quest for peace after a death in the family."—School Library Journal