Marshall is grieving the loss of his twin in a horrible car
accident that happened several months ago. His family and old friends give him
a wide berth, figuring he just needs space to mourn and recover, but there is
more going on with Marshall than meets the eye. For starters, he goes
everywhere barefoot, even as winter begins in western NY. His parents and teachers think it has
something to do with his grieving process, but Marsh has a secret: he is
searching for a thin space, a barrier between this world and the next where
people can move between the two worlds…and from what he’s read, you can only
enter cross over a thin space in bare feet.
The entire novel is told from Marsh’s perspective, so the
story of exactly what happened on the day of the accident emerges only
gradually. Marsh thinks there could be a thin space in a house on his street,
where an elderly neighbor recently died, and he sees his chance to get into the
house again and explore when a new girl, Maddie, moves into the house with her
mother and brother. Maddie joins Marsh in his supernatural search. Although she
has her own reasons for wanting to find a thin space, it is clear that the two
of them actually like each other as well. The question is, can any kind of
relationship grow here, in the midst of so much pain and with Marsh’s
all-encompassing obsession with the dead?
Thin Space has a
unique premise and a convoluted plot that slowly becomes clearer as the story
evolves. It was just as compelling as I’d hoped, and I finished the novel in a
few short days. The characters all felt real, and although the novel has an
underlying supernatural premise, most of the book takes place in the real
world, reading like good realistic teen/YA fiction. This is one of those novels
with so many twists and surprises that when I finished, I wanted to immediately
go back and re-read it! Thin Space
is Casella’s first novel, and I am definitely looking forward to reading more
from her.
Thin Space
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