Kenna is a talented musician who lives an isolated life with her beloved and frail twin sister and emotionally distant mother. Kenna is also a murderer: at 10, she took revenge on a neighbor boy who tormented her sister, killing him with her touch. Under strict orders from her mother to hide that death and her powers, Kenna withdrew from friends, finding solace in her guitar. Now 17, she has found friendship (and maybe more) with neighbor Blake, and recognition of her musical gift at a local folk festival. Returning home from a triumphant performance, she finds her mother and sister bleeding with their attacker still in the house, and she is forced to use her powers to save her family. Frightened by Kenna's actions, her mother takes her to a commune of similarly gifted people, the Kalyptra, where she uncovers many dark family secrets, forcing her to choose how best to navigate through a moral thicket. Some readers may be put off by the strong anti-drug message, but almost all will find themselves pulled into this swiftly paced page-turner.

Kenna Marsden has a gift, or is it perhaps more of a curse? She possesses the ability to drain the life force from others with a single touch, leaving the victim dead and her with an exhilarating high. Kenna has been suppressing her gift since a freak accident left a young classmate dead. Years later, the boy's father seeks revenge and attacks Kenna and her family. Due to his attack, Kenna is taken to a commune on the outskirts of town where everyone possesses her "gift." Did Kenna's mother just drop her off in the hands of a vampire-hippie-murder-death cult?A creepy and atmospheric tone is set from the opening line, "I try not to think about it, what I did to that boy." Kenna is good natured, yet conflicted by her gift, something she cannot fathom or control. Be prepared. The narrative goes much deeper than a basic supernatural thriller. It is also an examination of duplicity and the sometimes complicit nature of the human condition. All characters are well developed, and nothing is cut and dried, demonstrating Bosworth's gift for writing and understanding of the reader. The Killing Jar is a multifaceted coming-of-age story with subtle poetic prose that is well written and well paced. It contains a suspenseful combination of horror and psychology, featuring murder, romance, intrigue, and hippie-murder-death cults. What is there not to like?Audrey Hopkins.