I Was Here

‘I regret to inform you that I have had to take my own life’ – what a way to open a book! When Cody receives this line in an email one day after her best friend Meg has taken her own life, she feels like she has failed her friend. How could she not have seen that her friend was suicidal or even that she was depressed?

Meg’s parents ask Cody to go to Meg’s dorm room to clean up and bring her possessions home and it is here that Cody meets Ben, a charismatic musician who she discovers broke Meg’s heart. However, it isn’t until Cody returns home and talks to Meg’s 10-year-old younger brother that she starts to think that someone else may have been involved in Meg’s death.

I must admit, originally I thought, ‘not another teen suicide book,’ but this one was very different to what I imagined. Not only does it have a slight psychological thriller aspect, it tackles far more than suicide, looking into family life, first love, and the large role that the internet can play in our lives. I Was Here is an emotional and compelling read for ages 14 and up.

Katherine Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn.