A missed opportunity.
An elaborate revenge plot to take down the manipulative, bullying popular crowd consumes Chloe Whittaker’s senior year in Australian author Valett’s debut.
The exclusive Arlington Prep near Beverly Hills isn’t for the faint of heart. In fact, popular kids (dubbed Level Ones in the hierarchy cooked up by narrator Chloe, who considers herself an invisible Level Three, and her best friend, Monica) rule the school with an iron fist. Last year Monica became obsessed with the Level Ones, leading to her downfall and the fracturing of their friendship. Now Chloe will make them pay. To infiltrate the in-crowd, Chloe blackmails handsome, green-eyed lacrosse team captain Will Bishop, who tells her that posing as his girlfriend will yield the quickest access to his social circle. Soon, Chloe is perpetuating the very behavior she claims to loathe. Predictably, Chloe falls for Will, who is also on her hit list, while struggling with guilt over her actions. A suspension of disbelief is a must. Teachers blatantly ignore truly awful behavior by Level Ones, and the author waits until the very end to humanize them and reveal the truth about what happened to Monica. Overwrought dialogue and underdeveloped characters further hamper what might have been an affecting exploration of bullying and the corrupting nature of power. Most characters appear white; there is minor diversity in some secondary characters.
A missed opportunity. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-291808-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Readers will be captivated by this twisty thriller and its uncompromising protagonist.
The mother Annabel Price thought was dead returns with a story about where she’s been—but 18-year-old Bel knows she’s lying.
Ever since Rachel Price’s unexplained disappearance 16 years ago, true-crime fans have come up with plentiful theories about what happened. Bel and her family members, who are white, cobbled together lives for themselves after a jury found Bel’s father, Charlie, not guilty of murdering his wife. Beset with medical bills for his elderly father, Charlie recently agreed to participate in a documentary about the unsolved mystery. Black British filmmaker Ramsey Lee is well into the process of interviewing the Prices when his project gets an unanticipated boost after an exhausted, disheveled Rachel staggers back into town. Rachel is eager to resume her role in the family, but the inconsistencies in her accounts raise alarms for Bel. With the help of the youngest member of the filmmaking team, Bel sets out to learn what really happened. Along the way, someone else disappears, and Bel uncovers a tangle of lies that make it impossible for her to trust people she thought she knew. When things come to a head the night of her grandfather’s 85th birthday party, Bel ends up in a race for her life. The last quarter of the novel tears along at a breakneck pace before arriving at a satisfying and unexpected conclusion.
Readers will be captivated by this twisty thriller and its uncompromising protagonist. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593374207
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.
Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.
Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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