“The Companion” by Katie Alender It’s one of the best novels I’ve read this summer. Alender provides her readers with an engrossing psychological thriller that is hard to put down. This novel is very well written with an excellent plot line and characters who are believable and relatable especially for young adults. Her writing style flows naturally with ease and purpose from beginning to end. Armchair sleuths will enjoy the challenges presented throughout the novel as they theorize about what the real truth is that governs the Copeland family. Alender draws her readers into a relationship with the main character who has suffered a terrible tragedy and finally feels that her life is about to change for the better only to find out that tragedy can sometimes be carried within a person and can’t be discarded or left behind like an old set of luggage. As our heroine becomes more deeply involved in the Copeland family mysteries her own personal traumas continue to resurface causing her to question who she is and why she has survived this far As her character develops readers become more intensely committed to see the novel through to the end. I enjoyed “ The Companion” Immensely. I definitely recommend it as a young adult mystery and I believe we not so young adults would enjoy it just as much.