A review by toesinthesand
The Elissas: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of Suburbia by Samantha Leach

2.0

This was... weird. I expected something more in-depth, I expected more of an exposé on how unqualified some of these troubled teen centers and schools are... What I got was self-therapy on the part of the author who seemed to want to absolve herself of guilt over her best friend dying by blaming society as a whole and these institutions for lack of support. Which isn't incorrect but... She didn't know two of the girls, and she wasn't really in touch with her best friend for a stretch of time, so everything is hearsay/secondhand info. It was also really confusing trying to keep all of them straight, not only because of their similar names, but because it jumped around. She maybe would have been better off following each one of them individually first? Drug addiction in this country is a huge problem, mental health access is scarce but it's even sadder when it happens to teenagers who should have parents and teachers looking out for them.