Jennifer Jones, JJ, killed a ten year old girl and was locked away for her crime. That was six years ago, now the name JJ is once again headline news due to her release from prison. Although detention centre may be a more accurate description then prison, as you can hardly send a ten year old to prison, even for murder.

Now sixteen, JJ has a new name and a new life, with a chance to start fresh from her past actions. There are those who believe she should never be released, sometimes she even believes that herself. But only she knows the true reasons for her actions that day, and only she can decide if she deserves a second chance.

Looking For JJ is a fascinating story of a child murderer, of a girl searching for identity, of a haunting and terrible past. Neglected, ignored and starved for affection, this is a sad and tragic tale told incredibly with compassion and realism through the eyes of a killer, the memories of a ten year old, the hope of a sixteen year old. ( )

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3023886.html

Interesting story about a 17-year-old released from prison after serving the sentence for murdering her best friend when they were 10. It's a good portrait of how people deal with awful things that they themselves did in the past, and of the destructive role of the media. I didn't quite believe that the protagonist would have been able to put the psychological damage caused by her mother behind her, but perhaps that was needed for a good story. A grim and thought-provoking YA read. ( )

I've been a fan of Anne Cassidy for years and this is my favourite of her books. It's a book that shocks you, firstly at it's content, but secondly and most importantly at the way it makes you feel about the protagonist: JJ. Jennifer Jones. Child murderer.
You are taken into the story through JJ's eyes, you do feel anger for what she did but you feel sorrow too. JJ is a person, fragile like everyone else and living with the burden of her past. She has been forced to start a new life under a new name, but just as she begins to get her new life going, the reporters show up, the secret investigators, people sent to search for someone who no longer exists: JJ.
The life she has tried to build is turned upside down and if she isn't careful she could lose everything, the boyfriend she loves, the friends she's made, even the identity that she's created for herself out of a past that doesn't seem to want to let her go.
A sad novel about redemption and forgiveness. How the good and bad guys are not so clearly defined in real life situations. ( )

Given to me by a colleague, a thought-provoking YA book.

JJ killed her best friend when she was 10. She goes to prison, but now she is a young woman, on the outside, trying to restart her life. Now known as Alice, she is living with her care worker trying to keep a step away ahead the press.

As a seventeen-year-old girl, Alice is trying to have a normal life, but she can't escape her past. And should she? While the author doesn't excuse what JJ did in her past, we do see how she came to be that little girl, a little girl capable of killing her own friend. It's hard to describe it without ruining the plot, but I think that Anne Cassidy got the balance between drama and humanity just right. ( )

Easy to read and kept me hooked. Seemed a tad unrealistic that such an emotionally damaged child could ultimately be portrayed as so undamaged as a young adult. I felt sympathy for JJ. I would have liked her to break out and run away abroad maybe with Frankie!! ( )