A young woman finds herself between two worlds in Fox’s YA SF coming-of-age story.

Leeta Simtar, who’s well above 6 feet tall, is like many other teenage girls in that she yearns for greater freedom than her life on the planet Fure will allow—a feeling that’s only underscored by her status as a “Brid,” or interspecies hybrid. This is a world anchored by rote order, as its motto (“One mind. One goal. One family”) suggests, and Leeta’s impetuous brashness proves to be a naturally poor fit. Inevitably, Leeta is sent for a sit-down with Fure’s stern, omnipresent overlord, the Daht, but not for punishment. Leeta and her friend, Zertee, are being sent to Ganymede on a field expedition to survey its biological life, under strict supervision, as the Daht reminds them (“I will be tracking your APEDs [All-Purpose Electronic Devices]at all times”)—although later, they go to Earth without authorization. A mystery gift from the Daht dramatically upends Leeta’s life by helping to unlock crucial secrets about her past, and she feels compelled to break from the mission to explore them further. It places her on a collision course with UFO conspiracist Rick Rodriguez, whose paranoid actions may yield essential clues. Putting the pieces together will also require the cooperation of Richard Rutherford, who’s still reeling from his son’s unsolved disappearance, which occurred 18 years before Leeta’s arrival. Over the course of Fox’s novel, the way in which the adventurous young Leeta sets about her task will naturally thrill any reader who’s ever had to deal with Daht-style moralism from people in their orbit; some of these dictates are sure to be uncomfortably familiar to any young rebel, such as “You must try harder to be one with us.” Boldly presented in a third-person, present-tense narrative style from Leeta’s perspective, Fox’s novel tells a richly told story of going rogue, on a grand scale, for the greater good—even as she’s pushed to her breaking point.

A rousing tale about a young woman coming to terms with an unresolved past.

In Fox’s YA mystery, a teenager must piece together the truth behind her apparent suicide—and the events leading up to it—from beyond the grave.

Sixteen-year-old Nicole Benson wakes up confused and disoriented on a bright platform floating in an abyss, surrounded by a group of kids her age and younger, many of whom have horrific injuries that disappear soon after she sees them. They’re taken to “Substation Fifteen,” where they are welcomed and assigned mentors to support and guide them as they prepare for “The Evaluation,” which they must pass in order to move on to their next destination. Nicole’s mentor, Grace, explains that Nicole is dead and that Substation Fifteen is for those who have died by suicide. (“Lemon-yellow lights illuminate a larger area. ‘This is the simulation center devoted to viewing memory projections.’ We’d better get YouTube and Netflix or I’m definitely leaving.”) Though Nicole comes to remember falling to her death, she can’t recall the events leading up to it…but she’s absolutely certain that she didn’t do it on purpose. Sure, her life wasn’t perfect: Her mother died when she was a baby, she’s insecure about her looks, and the object of her infatuation, Alex Traynor, is dating her frenemy, Cassie Church. Still, Nicole knows that she didn’t kill herself. As the 30-day countdown to The Evaluation ticks by, Nicole begins to master skills, like entering the dreams of her loved ones, telekinesis, astral traveling, and even materializing before the living. In doing so, she starts to reclaim her memories from her final day. Fox’s captivating mystery explores adolescent friendships, betrayals, and suicide with cleverness and an abundance of compassion. The characters are well developed, distinctive, and compelling. (Nicole, a gifted singer-songwriter, guitar player, and actor, is sympathetic and relatable; she’s also judgmental and a bit conniving.) Readers will enjoy the author’s imaginative worldbuilding and exploration of the supernatural and will be especially enthralled by the dizzying twists and turns as the circumstances surrounding Nicole’s death are revealed.

A compassionate exploration of friendship and betrayal wrapped up in a true page-turning mystery.