Summary

The novel is narrated in first-person present with chapters that switch back and forth between the narrators, Alice and Iris. In Chapter One, Alice Ogilvie returns to Castle Cove High after her house arrest ends on the morning of Halloween. Her former best friends (Rebecca Kennedy, Helen Park, and Brooke Donovan) laugh at her as Alice notices the black marker on her locker that reads “ALICE OGILVIE IS CRAZY.” Alice pretends not to care, just like her favorite author, Agatha Christie, would not care, and goes to class where she is called to the guidance counselor’s office. Ms. Westmacott used to date Brooke’s dad, but Brooke hated her and did not want her dad to marry her, so they broke up. Ms. Westmacott asks Alice how house arrest went and Alice says that her parents bought her a horse to pass...