Beautiful Malice

James, Rebecca. Beautiful Malice: A Novel. New York: Bantam, 2010. Print.

I read the book Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James.  The book revolves around the character Katherine Patterson.  Who has moved to a new city, changed her name and enrolled in a new school, all to escape her past.  Before the incident, Katherine had it all.  She was popular in school, had many friends, went to parties and had a boyfriend.  She even went by the name Katie.  The incident that occurred happened at a party that Katie was at.  Her sister, Rachel, who was only 12 begged Katie to let her come to the party.  Little did Katie know what was going to happen next.  Rachel ended up in a car with four unknown boys; she was completely drunk.  Since Katie was also drunk she need to find a ride home for her and Rachel.  Katie accepts the offer from the unknown boys to drive them home because her efforts to get Rachel to stand and walk are denied.  The ride home goes horribly wrong.  The boys drugged Rachel, drove the girls out in the middle of nowhere.  The leader locks Katie in a shed, but she finds a way to escape only to find the boys raping her sister.  Afraid that they will do the same to her, Katie runs to the nearest source of light for help.  Rachel ends up dead.  The media coverage of the case is unbearable.  To escape the media and try and forget her past, Katie changes her name to Katherine Patterson, moves to a new city, and enrolls in a new school.  While at the school she ends up becoming friends with the most popular girl in school, Alice.  But this relationship with Alice proves to be nothing but deadly, with twists and turns that even I didn't see coming. 

I absolutely loved this book!  My sister recommended that I read it because she said that it was good.  This book is a really good intro to my topic about psychology because this book is very psychological.  The fact that Katherine blames herself for her sisters murder makes for a compelling and haunting story.  I loved how the author picked such a rateable topic that many teenagers may be going through; it may not be as traumatic as murder but still a traumatic event in their life.  The interesting character in the story though is Alice.  In the beginning she is the popular girl, very outgoing and charismatic.  But Katherine soon finds out that Alice is a manipulative bitch.  Yet despite all that Alice has put Katherine through, she still deems Alice her friend.  Until Alice starts harassing her with things about the incident with Rachel.  Alice is an interesting person to observe because she exhibits many different behaviors.  This is how the book relates to my project about criminal profiling and forensic psychology; I want to know what compels people to do certain things and in the end of the book you find out what Alices' motives were.  Making the story that much creepier and engaging.