Broken Doll by Crissa Constantine

SterlingHouse Publisher, Fiction, $14.95
(206p) ISBN 9781563153891

A Compelling Story of Friendship, Betrayal and Self-Destruction

In this totally absorbing and highly moving debut novel, Crissa Constantine introduces us to Sunny, a beautiful, charming but troubled woman “living at the foothills of an active volcano” – her own damaged psyche. Told from the viewpoint of Lisa, a new teacher in a tough school who delights in Sunny’s friendship, the story is loosely based on real events in Constantine’s life. Broken Doll takes the reader on a dizzying journey that has Lisa marveling over her friend’s generous nature one moment and worrying for her safety the next. Despite Sunny’s genuinely kind heart, she is a tsunami of bad choices and wild disregard of social norms. While she treats Lisa to new dresses and spa makeovers, Sunny thinks nothing of manipulating anyone she wishes, even while she risks her life and those of others in the process. As Sunny spins closer and closer to the edge of self-destruction, Lisa tries to rescue her troubled friend from her dangerous ways, putting her friendship, and her own life, on the line. In the end, Lisa will learn a hard lesson: Some people, even dear friends, may simply be irretrievably doomed.

Constantine’s writing is disarmingly straightforward and unadorned. From the very beginning she sucks you into Sunny’s and Lisa’s story with the subtle power of a whirlpool, carefully increasing suspense until the intrigued reader has no choice but to keep on reading this tragic yet strangely uplifting tale. While Sunny’s mind may be damaged, Broken Doll most assuredly is not.