Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

In most cases, Vera Dietz would rather be invisible. She wishes she could just blend into the walls in high school, because she’d rather not have to deal with all the labels and rumors given to her because of her parents. But even though Vera wants to be invisible, she doesn’t want to be alone. She just wants a best friend to be invisible with. And for a while she has one in Charlie Kahn—until he betrays her. Now Vera is alone with too many secrets that aren’t hers to keep or share. When Charlie dies under suspicious circumstances, Vera is probably the only person who can even come close to the truth. But how can Vera overcome the pain Charlie put her through to do the right thing and clear his name—and does she even want to?

I absolutely loved King’s first novel The Dust of 100 Dogs, and even though the premise of her second novel Please Ignore Vera Dietz could not be more different from King’s debut, it is still a great success. Please Ignore Vera Dietz is told from a handful of different perspectives, living, dead, and even inanimate, and even if it seems confusing as to how a certain detail or memory relates to the story at hand, everything comes together so nicely. I actually really enjoyed experiencing all these different points of view, especially the more bizarre ones because I had no doubt that King could make it work; she just has that kind of talent. The actual story is actually somewhat hard to describe because it is so complex. There’s so much more to Vera than a pizza delivery job and a slight alcohol problem, and I wholeheartedly enjoyed being privy to Vera’s life and struggles. Once again, I have been impressed by King’s skill at creating vivid characters and an unusual yet fantastic story and timeline.

Fans of King’s debut The Dust of 100 Dogs should definitely check out Please Ignore Vera Dietz for the merit of King’s writing alone, as well as readers who enjoyed The Space Between Trees by Katie Williams and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.

Rating: 4.25

Review copy from author A.S. King