Lucinda Berry’s One of Our Own feels like an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The story, albeit timely and emotional, is nothing new. I am reminded of  Halle Berry’s The Call, in which she plays a 911 operator who goes above and beyond to save a kidnapped girl, played by Abigail Breslin. The same basic story plays out here.

A suicide prevention operator takes a call from a girl who was sexually assaulted by a group of boys at her school. A video of the incident is being shared online, resulting in social stigma. The girl has dark thoughts, but before she hangs up, the operator gives out her personal cell number. The girl calls it. What follows is a journey through both their trauma as they navigate the fractured pathways of their lives and find out whom they can trust.

Notice I did not use any names in the previous paragraph. It’s because I don’t remember any of them, even though I listened to this novel today. That’s a good thing, as the reader can swap in any particular person for these characters. You could be reading about your wife or daughter in this story set in Anytown, Wisconsin. It opens up the rest of the novel to take center stage.

The core of One of Our Own is in the depraved act at the center of the story. It raises many questions about the subject, but doesn’t give many answers. How do we navigate the trauma afterward? How do we find answers when technology that aids our lives is actively working against us? How do we find trust in humanity when humanity is breaking that bond? Our characters bumble through these much as we do in real life, coming to no particular resolution.

To its benefit, Berry writes well enough. There are a few clunky pieces of dialogue, which is unfortunate given the novel’s heavy use of conversation. There aren’t any huge twists in the story. Well, there is one at the end that you can see from a mile away, but then the story pushes it to near-absurdity, taking away any impact it may have had.

Dealing with subject matter such as this, you’d have to be a zombie not to feel anything while reading. However, the ending is so absurd that it almost turns a small-town true-crime story into speculative fiction. This, along with the no-twist plotline, gives this novel mediocre vibes throughout.

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