Reviewed by Susan Hancy
Wow – what a book! At first, I didn’t think I’d enjoy
it; the opening scene is sudden and violent and told from the point of view of
a gender-fluid 17-year-old whose estranged twin sister tries to murder him, but
instead crashes to her own premature death. I was quickly hooked, however, by
the beauty of the language used by the author, the revealing of the inner
strength of the protagonist, Mars, and the desire to know what evil drove his
sister, Caroline, to such a surprising and aggressive violent act.
Mars, short for Marshall Matthias the Third, is the
son of a New York senator and an ultra-conservative father who both seem more
concerned with keeping up appearances than the welfare of their children. After
the death of his popular and high-performing sister, Mars is wracked with guilt
that he had not reached out to support her earlier; he had seen her become
increasingly withdrawn over the past year and suspected she was carrying some
unbearable load. Mars needs answers and to get these he must return to the
summer camp, Aspen, which his sister had been attending for years and where she
spent the last few weeks of her life. The challenge for Mars is that he hasn’t
been back there in the last four years – not since he experienced his own
unforgettable horror perpetrated by other kids bullying him because of his
gender-fluidity.
Mars arrives part-way through the summer camp and we
learn about the decades old gender-assuming traditions that the boys and the
girls participate in with gusto. The camp director pays respects to the memory
of Caroline, but is not particularly happy to have Mars back, especially when Mars
reminds her that he could still sue the camp for the incident four years ago
which he narrowly survived. The camp director assigns her nephew, Wyatt, to
look out for Mars since Mars is not readily accepted by the other boys in his
cabin. Wyatt is also always around to keep an eye on Mars, per orders of the
camp director who is wary of Mars’s intentions. Unlike the other boys, Wyatt doesn’t
discriminate and a genuine relationship appears to develop between him and
Mars. Mars also proves a surprise packet for the macho boys in his cabin,
excelling at certain events, while at the same time remaining true to himself
by not buckling to the pressure to conform and by expressing himself how he
wants.
In his rejection of the toxic masculinity of the boys
in general, Mars becomes close to the girls who were the best friends and cabin
mates of Caroline, “the Honeys”. Their cabin is remotely located from the rest
of camp along with the apiary and they’re responsible for the care of the bees.
Mars suspects the answers he is seeking lie with getting to know the girls
better. They welcome him into their fold, to the wariness of Wyatt and the
disgust of the boys. When one of the Honeys goes missing and her existence
appears to have been erased from the collective memory of the camp members,
Mars investigates further, hoping it will reveal what happened to Caroline.
What he discovers is an unbelievable horror and there’s no one he can trust.
The last quarter of the book is a series of twists,
revelations, shocks, willing for Mars to survive, more twists, more
revelations, more shocks as all the loose ends are stuck back together like swirls
of honey. The strength of sibling love prevails and the outcome is satisfying
for both Mars and the reader, while leaving the possibility of other-worldly
dimensions as something for the reader to contemplate upon finishing the last
page.
I highly recommend this book for older readers (15+
years).
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