A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 352 

Publisher: Atom 

Released: 5th of February 2019 

Only when she's locked away does the truth begin to escape...

Seventeen-year-old Hannah Gold has always been treated like a grown up. As the only child of two New York professionals, she's been traveling the world and functioning as a miniature adult since the day she was born. But that was then. Now, Hannah has been checked into a remote treatment facility, stripped of all autonomy and confined to a single room.

Hannah knows there's been a mistake. What happened to her roommate that summer was an accident. As soon as the doctor and judge figure out that she isn't a danger to herself or others, she can get back to her life of promise and start her final year at school. Until then, she's determined to win over the staff and earn some privileges so she doesn't lose her mind to boredom.

But then she's assigned a new roommate. At first, Lucy is the perfect project to keep Hannah's focus off all she is missing at home. But Lucy may be the one person who can make Hannah confront the secrets she's avoiding - and the dangerous games that landed her in confinement in the first place.

Trigger Warnings: Mental Health, hallucinations, mental health facility, eating disorder 

What I Have to Say 

What I was hoping for from the blurb was a manipulative game playing girl toying with the people around her (because I love those types of stories), but this book was so much more than that. I didn't get to indulge my passion for reading about mean girls doing bad things, but I did get to read a story about a girl with very real mental health difficulties and how they can hurt people around her. 

This isn't a story about a killer who is absolved of blame by mental health difficulties. This isn't Psycho where they weave in a disorder to make what happens even more frightening. This is a story about a girl. An average girl, who does something bad and is taken to a hospital in order to keep her and the people around her safe. 

This is a girl who can't even admit to what she's done. And this story is her coming to terms with what happened and her new diagnosis. The whole thing was very well done, it made me feel so much sympathy for Hannah while also not excusing what she did to Agnes. I really liked the way that it was told and how it was written. 

This book has twists, it has drama, but it's not out to shock the reader in the way that a lot of sensationalist writers tell stories of this kind. It was great to see something that was written in a much more sensitive and realistic way. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Atom for providing me with this free copy for review.