The Jagged Circle

In this second novel of a series, Evangeline (Evie) Gibb and her horse, Kazam, are still basking in their win of the Queen’s plate, an event that occurred in the opening volume, Jockey Girl.
Now, since Evie’s father was put in jail and her stepmother is living with a new boyfriend and her two children in Newmarket. Angela, Evie’s mom, is in rehab at the Quest and had put their farm, Maple Mills, up for sale, Evie has permanently moved in with her grandmother, Gran Mary, at Parson’s Bridge. Maple Mills has recently been purchased by the well-to-do Stapletons, and Evie is interested to see what they’ll do with the place. Evie is expecting a quiet March Break riding Kazam and watching the snow slowly melt. However, this March Break will bring her more than she ever expected.

It’s only a day or so into March Break when Evie’s half brother, Jordie, shows up at Parson’s Bridge for a visit. Dressed in his snowsuit and pj’s, Jordie shares with Gran Mary and Evie that life in Newmarket is not going so well. Because his mom, Paulina, drinks a lot and her boyfriend, Kerry, is away on business most of the time, Jordie and his older sister, Beebee, are basically left on their own. Jordie goes on to say that Beebee has been acting strangely. She can be gone for days with her new friends without anyone knowing where she is. Gran Mary calls Paulina but has to leave a message that Jordie’s staying with them.

With Gran Mary tending to Jordie, Evie takes Kazam out for a ride with her dog, Magpie, following. Evie loses sight of Magpie, but she hears her whining. She leads Kazam towards the sound and is shocked to find the body of a young girl face down in the snow. Evie races home, and, when the police arrive shortly after her phone call, she leads them to the body. An ambulance takes the unconscious girl to the hospital, and the lead officer shares with Evie that she suspects the girl is part of a larger group called the Circle and that she’s the second girl they’ve found in that condition. It seems as though the girls are being drugged as part of the group's initiation process, but the first girl they found had died from it.

Once back at Parson’s Bridge, Evie tells Gran Mary about what happened. As she’s telling her, Gran Mary gets a call from Paulina who wants Beebee to stay with Gran Mary as well, but she can’t get a hold of her and has to board a plane. Now they have to find Beebee, but where could she be? A call from Beebee’s cell phone has Evie talking to another girl, and Evie can hear other girls in the background. The girl hangs up the phone when Evie asks about where they are, but Evie suspects they’re in one of the old outbuildings on the Stapleton farm. Beebee is friends with Cynthia Stapleton who is the leader of a group of girls whose appearances match that of the girl Evie found in the bush. Evie is curious and decides to ride out to see if the group is there.

Riding Kazam with Magpie in tow, Evie decides to investigate the old outbuildings, but, before she can really look, she’s stopped by the trainer, Piers Andres, for trespassing. Evie manages to talk her way through and ends up finding Beebee hiding in an old cave they used to play in. Beebee explains how she escaped from the Circle and just wants to go home. Before they can go though, Piers has Evie and Kazam ride through the Steeplechase training run. Piers is amazed with their abilities and offers to train Evie and Kazam for an upcoming event. Evie is excited at the offer and promises to call the next day. Now, she needs to get Beebee on Kazam and get her back to Parson’s Bridge.

When they get back, there’s a message from the Quest asking that Gran Mary go out to visit Angela. They learn that Angela may have recently tried to escape and they can’t figure out why. They visit Angela and discover that she was trying to help a girl who was caught up in the Circle and that’s why it appeared that Angela was trying to escape. Evie shares this information with the police as they continue their investigation. Angela is released from the Quest and lives in the apartment above the garage at Parson’s Bridge.

Kazam and Evie work with Piers Andersen to prepare for the event, and it seems as though they will have a solid chance at placing. When the day arrives, Evie finds herself racing against Cynthia who not only treats her horse badly but has also gotten some of her group members to interfere with the course. After a close call, Evie and Kazam get through the course, but Cynthia’s horse takes a fatal fall.

After the race finishes, Evie notices that Beebee and Jordie are both missing. Evie finds out that one of the outbuildings is on fire and fears that Beebee is there. Riding Kazam to the fire, she sees her boyfriend carrying Beebee from the building. As they are getting into an ambulance, Magpie alerts Evie that something else is going on. Evie follows her dog and discovers a secret underground storage space. Easing her way down, she finds the rest of Cynthia’s group and Jordie! Evie flushes the girls out, right into the hands of the police, and Gran Mary tends to Jordie.

When everyone returns home to Parson’s Bridge, a call comes through from Cynthia’s father, Dr. Maris-Stapleton. He consistently denied Cynthia’s involvement in the Circle, but, after everything that happened, he knows Cynthia was the center of it all and apologizes to Evie.
Days later, Evie learns that Dr. Maris-Stapleton was arrested for accessory after the fact because Cynthia was using a drug, one which he created, to initiate the girls involved in the Circle. Once they were initiated, they were given a jagged circle tattoo on their arm. With Dr. Stapleton and his daughter in jail, Maple Mills is put back up for sale. Since Angela is determined to stay sober, she decides to repurchase Maple Mills and live there again as her life comes full circle.

Peterson’s second book in this series does not disappoint. It has all the same characteristics as the first and even goes farther, introducing unusual topics including investigations into cult behaviour, horse racing interferences, and drug and alcohol abuse. There are several threads in this story, and, although some connections ask readers to suspend belief, it all comes together in the end. As a continuation from Jockey Girl, this novel does a solid job building on the original characters as well as introducing new ones. And, at its heart, it shows a detailed knowledge of horses – the romanticized side of things as well as the darker possibilities that may take place in the world of racing and event riding.
The Jagged Circle would be a good read for late teen readers who have an interest in horses and stories that involve family struggles, strong female protagonists, and an interest in knowing some of the disturbing troubles that a teenager might face when their so-called friends are toxic. I look forward to other books in this series.