Shine by Lauren Myracle

16 year old Cat has set out to find out what happened to her former best friend Patrick.  Patrick was attacked one night and brutally beaten.  Most people in town are sympathetic, but none too quick to actually look for the culprit because Patrick is gay, and many in his and Cat's Southern home don't look too kindly on that "lifestyle".  Cat has to take on the entire town, and search through secrets she might not want to know, all in hopes of finding justice for her friend.

The setting in this book is amazingly well done.  The only problem I had is that originally I thought it was a historical fiction novel, but then as I read I realized it was set in present day.  The decay of Cat's small town is portrayed straight forward, but also very touchingly.

The mystery of who attacked Patrick isn't too hard to figure out.  And it is kind of painful to go through Cat dealing with her own issues of a sexual assault that happened to her years ago.  The fact that she starts to open up, and realize that while many of the people around her aren't perfect, they are still good and worth working to keep in her life, is something that I liked.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and found it hard to put down.  Also, I have to say that the cover is just amazingly beautiful.