Women on the Verge
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The Year of Needy Girls
by Patricia A. Smith
Akashic / Kaylie Jones Books. 333 pages, $15.95

THIS NOVEL by Patricia A. Smith explores fictional events in Bradley, Massachusetts, following the abduction and murder of a ten-year-old boy. Leo Rivera has been lured into a car by a “much older” friend, Mickey, who knows the boy wants a new bike, calls to him from a car window, and invites him to go see one downtown. Leo gets into the car and discovers that Mickey is not alone.

The Year of Needy Girls is structured in three acts whose chapters are interspersed with vignettes that are set apart and always titled “The Girls.”