The Best Worst Thing
by Kathleen Lane
Published by Little, Brown 2016
Print: $16.99
Ebook: $9.99
Maggie is starting middle school tomorrow and she's already stressing about it. Actually, Maggie is stressing about a LOT of things. A cashier at a store her family went to was shot and killed in a robbery and the suspect is still on the loose. Maggie and her sisters Polly and Tana are afraid the killer is in their neighborhood and maybe even in their house! Their parents don't really do much to allay their fears. Mom is busy taking online courses to be a landscaper and their dad is always at work. Adding to this scary situation, one of Maggie's neighbors and classmates, Gordy, says he's getting a gun for his birthday, and threatens to kill Maggie if she tells anyone about his crappy home life. The neighbor behind her house, Mr. Gullick, raises rabbits and seems to have a nefarious plan to sell the cute bunnies to a restaurant. Maggie's friends seem to be changing and no longer seem as close to her as they start to mature into being more interested in boys and makeup than playing together. Her paranoia becomes so out of hand that Maggie has to check under every bed, in every closet, and behind every door before she goes to sleep each night. She has to be sure a murderer isn't lurking somewhere in the house.
I was really disappointed with this book. Especially the character of Maggie. The author piles anxiety upon anxiety, fear upon fear, on this sweet little girl, and never really goes anywhere with it. Maggie never gets stronger. She never learns how to cope with all the chaos and fear that is part and parcel of modern life. I wouldn't have been shocked if Maggie had made a suicide attempt somewhere in the novel. There are hints that things might get better, but these are very few and are not given with any confidence or surety. Sadly, the only recourse I saw for Maggie in this book would be to go to a psychiatrist and get some medication. Her parents are subpar and her friends are the same. She does get some support from her sisters but it's pretty superficial.
She needed a lifeline, like at least one good parent, friend, or teacher. With even one of those, I think her life would have improved 100%. Maggie never gets one so you're left wandering what the point of the book was. Maggie doesn't evolve. She doesn't change. She doesn't do anything to combat or face her issues. At the end she's just as full of fear and anxiety as when it began. If you want to read a novel about a girl that starts out scared and stays scared, be my guest.
My Grade: C-
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