by Keija Parssinen

In this intricate novel of psychological suspense, a chilling discovery near the high school ignites a witch hunt in a southeast Texas refinery town, unearthing communal and family secrets that threaten the lives of the town's girls.

In Port Sabine, the air is thick with oil, superstition reigns, and dreams hang on making a winning play. All eyes are on Mercy Louis, the star of the championship girls' basketball team. Mercy seems destined for greatness, but the road out of town is riddled with obstacles. There is her grandmother Evelia, a strict evangelical who has visions of an imminent Rapture and sees herself as the keeper of Mercy's virtue. And then there are the cryptic letters from Charmaine, the mother who abandoned Mercy at birth.

At the periphery of Mercy's world floats team manager Illa Stark, a lonely wallflower. Like the rest of the town, Illa is spellbound by Mercy's beauty and talent, but a note discovered in a gym locker reveals that Mercy's life may not be as perfect as it appears.

The last day of school brings the disturbing find, and as summer unfolds and the police investigate, every girl becomes a suspect. At the opening game of the season, Mercy collapses--and Evelia prophesies that she is only the first to fall. Soon other girls are afflicted by the same mysterious condition, sending the town into a tailspin and bringing Illa and Mercy together in an unexpected way.

Evocative and unsettling, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis charts the downfall of one town's golden girl while exploring the brutality and anxieties of girlhood in America.

Excellent coming of age story told in alternating chapters by two girls, Mercy (the high school basketball star) and Illa (team manager and classic wallflower). I thought that the author had a very realistic view on teenage life in a small backwoods southern town. There were a lot of intermingling stories going on other than the most notable mystery surrounding the discovery. Many topics brought to light including mother-daughter bonds, first love, evangelical religion, industrial pollution, team sports, mental and physical illness, and purity balls. Lots of social issues to wade through, the biggest of which would be the slut shaming surrounding the town girls (with no regard to the boys of course). The writing was great, the book flowed well and you could get into the minds of the characters and their various plights. What prevented this from a higher rating was the ending. I don't like to place spoilers in my reviews, so it's hard to articulate it, but there were some aspects of the story that were tied up (maybe a bit too neatly), but others that were left wide open. One in particular that I thought should have been answered more fully.

I won this book in a contest over at The Book Wheel book blog.Many thanks to Allison and the author for sending it to me!

Although I felt the ending was not all that I had hoped it would be, this was an excellent read. I highly recommend it.