The only thread of the plot I had difficulty reconciling was Delaney’s changed relationship with her mother. Delaney’s changing relationship with her best friend, Decker, is realistically complicated and her attraction to Troy an understandable reaction to her situation. There is, as to be expected, a romantic angle but I think the author handles it well. The element of the paranormal is well grounded, given Delaney’s brain damage, and is integral to the plot but does not overwhelm it. I like that Miranda has tackled such serious ideas in a way that teens can relate to. The story explores interesting themes such as guilt, near death experiences and euthanasia without finding it necessary to resolve the complex issues.

There is a slow build up of tension through out the novel, the faintest scent of menace surrounds Delaney from the moment she awakes from her coma. What I found so appealing about Fracture was the contemporary setting paired with simmering suspense and the lightest touch of ‘other’. The premise of Fracture is intriguing and Miranda grabs the attention of the reader in the very first pages as Delaney struggles beneath the frozen ice. Troy Varga knows just how she feels but while Delaney’s instincts are to try and prevent death, Troy believes he survived the crash that killed his parents and sister, to prevent suffering. Returning home is not the triumphant moment she expected, her parents are anxious and watchful, her relationship with her best friend, Decker, has indefinably altered and Delaney is confused by her sudden fascination with the dying. The doctors are baffled, but Delaney is simply relieved until an itch starts in the middle of her brain and her fingers start twitching.

Having been revived after eleven minutes trapped under the ice, Delaney wakes from a coma with her faculties seemingly unscathed. I picked it up intending to read a chapter or two before bed but devoured it in just a few hours. Megan Miranda has made an impressive entry into the young adult genre with the debut of her first novel, Fracture. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it? Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying.

Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she’s far from normal. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine -despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Synopsis: Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips.

Fracture by Megan Miranda