Devon Davenport's life is hit with a major jolt one morning when her mother comes home from work. Devon is home sick and really not feeling well. Her mother arrives with the surprise announcement that the police are combing the neighborhood because someone has left a newborn infant in a trashcan to die. Moments later, two police officer arrive as they canvass the area apartments and find that Devon is covered in blood after having given birth overnight.

The start of this book has a dreamy atmosphere as Devon is brought to the hospital and undergoes treatment because of heavy blood loss, but the stark reality of her life becomes clearer and clearer as the novel carries the story forward. A few days later, she finds herself in a juvenile detention facility with a group of girls all there for different reasons.

This was a place in which Devon never expected herself to be. She is a great student, and is the star of the school's and community soccer teams. She has always been a focused and trustworthy girl, which leaves everyone a bit surprised because no one, including Devon herself, seems to have realized that she was pregnant.

As Devon works with her lawyer Dominique, her prison counselor, and the teacher and girls from her juvenile detention unit's school, she begins to have flashbacks, allowing her and the reader to see how she was able to fool both herself and others about the pregnancy, leading to the horrific crime that starts the novel.

The writing for this story is rich, and the reader quickly becomes torn in whether to like/pity or despise Devon. She has done a horrible thing, but she is also a very likable and sad character. At the core, she feels like she has no one even as she is surrounded by people who want to try and help her.

This novel does a good job of presenting a perspective on a story we often hear on the news. It does not try to make excuses for what happened, but it does try to show how such events might have come about. My one complaint is that it sort of just ends with the last page. It is definitely not the end of the journey for Devon (or the reader, for that matter). She does come to a conclusion about her future, but it just sort of leaves the reader dangling.

I know that I wanted to know what happens to her and her baby even though she has come to terms emotionally with what has happened and what she has done. I guess I want to know what happens after After.