Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

 

This is one of those books that you know would stay with you for a long long time. 

Allegedly tells the story of a child, Mary Beth Addison, who at the age of 9, allegedly killed an infant, Alyssa. Mary is put in a group home with other violent young children, and is mistreated. Mary is extremely intelligent and narrates the story with clarity. She tells us she's innocent, and she's going to get out of there by acing the SAT exam. Her mother Dawn Cooper, is self serving and abusive towards Mary too. She comes to visit Mary every two weeks, mostly to make herself look like a good mother. Mary has always insisted she's innocent and we believe her. She was given a plea deal, signed by her mother, who was her power-of-attorney due to Mary's age. Mary told us that she decided to do this for mom because her mom has done so much for her. She doesn't want her mom to have to go to jail. She even can prove she's innocent - she has the necklace that her mom shoved into Alyssa's throat.

Going through this book, reading all of the abuse Mary endured, we are undoubtedly cheering for her. I'm not sure if I would call this a thriller - the story seems pretty straightforward. It's a story of survival and abuse. That is, until the final few chapters. We find out what really happened...

Mary was babysitting Alyssa, something she had to do quite often. Mary loved Alyssa's mother, Mrs. Melissa Richardson, who always loved Mary. That particular night, Alyssa wouldn't stop crying. Mary knew that her mom had these pills. Mary saw Dawn putting them in her late husband Ray's soup, which killed Ray. (The pills were poison.) Mary decided to give the baby some pills to make her quiet. It's not clear if she understood that would kill her or if she just thought it would make her quiet, like it did for Ray. When Dawn finds out, she desperately tries to get the pills out of Alyssa, even using her heirloom necklace to shove down her throat, which doesn't help things. So we learn at the end, that Mary and Dawn are both responsible for Alyssa's death. This is a jaw dropping moment, because Mary has been a very unreliable narrator. We've felt she's Miss Innocent this whole time. We must rapidly replay everything we've just read, but wait a second, can we really put any blame on Mary? Is that even fair? did Mary intend to kill Alyssa? Mary wanted Alyssa's mom to adopt her. Is that why she killed Alyssa? Or was she simply trying to get Alyssa to stay quiet? But still, regardless of Mary's motives, Dawn is more culpable because instead of getting medical help, she tried to do things herself. She's probably too afraid that if she turns to the police, they'd be able to make a connection to Ray's death and her abuse of Mary. So now I'm back to the side of Mary being a victim. But when we replay the whole book in our heads, we realize that there were quite a few hints throughout the book that Mary is at least a little, psycho. So perhaps she IS a danger to society, despite her young age. So much to think about. Any book that makes me think this hard is an automatic 5 star, and this one is no exception.