A review by danapr
Kept Animals by Kate Milliken

4.0

Most of this story takes place in 1993 in Topanga Canyon in California and centers around a group of teenagers who live near or ride horses on a ranch there. The author skillfully creates each character’s personality and the complicated relationships amongst the teens themselves and with their parents. Brief parts of the story fast-forward to 2015 and a ranch in Wyoming in which a young woman who is the daughter of one of the teenagers struggles with trying to figure out who she is and what happened to destroy Topanga Canyon in 1993. The story builds in intensity feeding the reader bits of information to keep reading to find out all the events that happened on a single night to dramatically change so many lives. My only criticism is that the ending seemed too rushed after the slow buildup and almost a little too obscure. My thanks to Scribner Books for the Goodreads giveaway!