Book tip

"Girl in Snow" by Danya Kukafka

Yet another suspense novel in which the word "Girl" is in the title — which makes me at least blame the publisher for doing the Fosbury Flop onto yet another literary bandwagon. On the other hand, neither author Kukafka nor the publishing house, Simon & Schuster, would ever pay attention to an idiot who used a mixed metaphor like "Flop/bandwagon," above. This story, about a popular high school girl found dead outside her Colorado high school, is pretty tasty. Kukafka's prose is lovely, and the literary tone works well with the pacing and tension. The points of view spin through three characters: The bright but odd loner accused of stalking her; another classmate who secretly regarded the victim as a sworn enemy; and a career patrol cop with his own complex secrets. I'm not through yet, but I have a feeling Kukafka's gonna gut punch me with this one.