"The Lovely Bones" deals with the difficult subject of child rape and murder, but Sebold crafts wonderful characters and her description of typical 1970s suburbia is spot-on. The story's narrator is fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon, who is raped and murdered by neighbor George Harvey (whom Sebold gives a background as well, but it feels overdone and largely meaningless). Her death sends her family into a tailspin; her mother eventually leaves and her father suffers health problems. Her sister, Lindsey, takes it upon herself to help the police investigate her sister's death long after it's become a cold case. Susie's school friends are also altered by her death: Ray Singh, her first crush, becomes involved with artist Ruth, who also senses that the dead aren't so far away after they leave the earth. Sebold's description of personal heavens where Susie lives are beautiful and sad. This is a book that lives up to its hype.