Damage Done by Amanda Panitch
Release Date: July 21, 2015
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Source: ALA2015
Rating: 
(3.5)
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
“Exceedingly clever and surprisingly unsettling, Damage Done is an unforgettable read.” –Melissa Marr, New York Times bestselling author of Made for You
“In her incredible debut novel, Amanda Panitch leaves you on the edge of your seat. Prepare to be stunned. Prepare to be torn apart.” –Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist
“A brilliant thriller. Gillian Flynn for the YA set.” –Amy Christine Parker, author of Gated
22 minutes separate Julia Vann’s before and after.
Before: Julia had a twin brother, a boyfriend, and a best friend.
After: She has a new identity, a new hometown, and memories of those twenty-two minutes that refuse to come into focus. At least, that’s what she tells the police.
Now that she’s Lucy Black, she’s able to begin again. She’s even getting used to the empty bedroom where her brother should be. And her fresh start has attracted the attention of one of the hottest guys in school, a boy who will do anything to protect her. But when someone much more dangerous also takes notice, Lucy’s forced to confront the dark secrets she thought were safely left behind.
One thing is clear: The damage done can never be erased. It’s only just beginning. . . . – Goodreads
Review:
This book was everything that I expected and nothing that I expected. I went into it quickly realizing that Julia is not the person she is leading, us the reader, to believe. As a twin, Julia has always had this close relationship with her brother. I know, you’re thinking that’s not weird, siblings are often close. But these two are really close. They sleep in bunk beds together, they hold hands, the essentially cannot be separated from each other. If they can’t do it together there is no point in them doing something.
Then, everything changes. Julia’s brother goes on a killing spree and she ends up being forced to leave town and become Lucy. Julia doesn’t mind being Lucy. She doesn’t have the killer brother, she excels in school again. Life is fine. Until her brother wakes up from a coma and disappears.
Lucy’s life comes to a halt and she becomes a bit paranoid. Between the cute swimmer and her best friend she tries to grapple a bit of normality while her murdering brother is running around. Of course her BFF and the cute swimmer have no idea that she has this past.
Lucy is an exhilarating character. She is why I kept turning the page until the wee hours of the morning. She lead me to wanting to know more, because really, I never trusted her. Through flashbacks we get bits and pieces of her previous life and see how much of Lucy is Julia and how much of Julia really disappeared.
But no matter how much I thought I knew what was going to happen and to be fair, I thought I called a lot of twists, but I was never once confident enough to think “I should stop this book. I’ve called it all.” And I’m so glad I waited until the end…because DAMN.
