A car accident killed Nicole, a sweet, pretty and popular sorority sister but the reported circumstances of her death vary. A newspaper account mentions lots of blood, a fire and an unrecognizable body, but Shelley Lockes, the first person on the scene, saw something very different. Except no one wants to hear Shelley's story, not the police and not the papers. So begins THE RAISING, an enjoyable, suspense-filled novel from Laura Kasischke. Craig, Nicole's boyfriend at the time and the driver of the car, has come back to the college although many have requested he not be allowed and insist he's a murderer. Craig himself remembers very little of that night.
Craig moves in with his former roommate, Perry, who grew up in the same town as Nicole. Perry has had glimpses of Nicole on campus, and that along with a fascination with death prompts him to take Mira's course on the subject. And Josie, Nicole's freshman roommate and sorority sister, works for Shelley at the office for the Chamber Music orchestra. All of their lives intertwine and all are impacted as more calls, sightings and cards from Nicole materialize... And they all want to know what happened that fateful night.
The accident was tragic, yes. Bloody and horrific and
claiming the life of a beautiful young sorority girl.
NICOLE was a straight A student from a small town. Sweet-
tempered, all-American, a fomer Girl Scout, and a virgin.
But it was an accident. And that was last year. Itโs fall
again, a new semester, a fresh start.
CRAIG, who has not been charged with murder, is focusing
on his classes, and also on avoiding Nicoleโs sorority
sisters, who seem to blame him for her death even though
the police did not.
PERRY, Craigโs roommate, is working through his own grief
(he grew up with Nicole, after all, and had known her
since kindergarten) by auditing Professor Polsonโs
sociology class: Death, Dying, and the Undead.
MIRA has been so busy with her babiesโtwo of them, twins,
the most perfect boys you could imagine, but still a
nearly impossible amount of work even with Clarkโs helpโ
that she can barely keep herself together to teach (Death,
Dying and the Undead), let alone write the book she'll
need to publish for tenure.
And SHELLY, who was the first person at the scene of the
accident, has given up calling the newspapers to tell them
that, despite the "lake of blood" in which they keep
reporting the victim was found, the girl Shelly saw that
night was not bloody, and not dead
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