An enjoyably twisty, romantic, and thoughtful prep-school mystery.
In this YA thriller, a teenage girl investigates a friend’s suicide, entangling her in dangerous intrigue.
“Last year, my family celebrated my mother’s birthday by conning an eighty-five-year-old woman out of ten thousand dollars,” writes 17-year-old Eleanor Ames. After cooperating with the FBI, Ellie is now trying to go straight, living with her older sister Harper, who left the con-artist life years ago, and Harper’s boyfriend, Aidan, a Secret Service agent, in the Washington, D.C., area. Ellie attends expensive Holden Prep thanks to financial aid; three months ago, her only friend there—Simon Gilbert, a senator’s son—supposedly killed himself following its spring formal. But Ellie questions this, especially when she learns new details that raise suspicions about two popular juniors at Holden who knew Simon: Bret Thomas and Dominic DeLuca. (As the author acknowledges, the book owes a debt to the TV series Veronica Mars.) In addition, Miles Beckett, an overly starched new student who lives with his uncle in Ellie’s apartment complex, starts asking questions about Simon. Ellie decides to use her well-honed grifter skills to gain the in-crowd’s trust and investigate, though she’s torn between honesty and deceit—especially when she joins forces with straight-laced Miles. He has a few things to hide too, it turns out, and both struggle with trust as their mutual attraction grows. Ellie and Miles uncover increasingly explosive secrets, including illicit surveillance, drug sales, blackmail, and an organization of assassins, leading to a perilous climax. Cross (You Before Anyone Else, 2016, etc.) is skillful in revealing character and bringing out elements of Ellie’s unusual past as they relate to her present struggles. For example, she almost drowned a few months ago, never having learned to swim because her father said that “swim lessons were for kids with social security numbers”; later, her fear of water becomes an issue. Cross also handles the details of con jobs and spycraft well, although her teen-spy subplot is tough to buy. The story’s suspense loses some force through an overlong final third or so, but this is still a promising start to a series.
An enjoyably twisty, romantic, and thoughtful prep-school mystery.Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63375-509-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes...
In a riveting novel from Myers (At Her Majesty’s Request, 1999, etc.), a teenager who dreams of being a filmmaker writes the story of his trial for felony murder in the form of a movie script, with journal entries after each day’s action.
Steve is accused of being an accomplice in the robbery and murder of a drug store owner. As he goes through his trial, returning each night to a prison where most nights he can hear other inmates being beaten and raped, he reviews the events leading to this point in his life. Although Steve is eventually acquitted, Myers leaves it up to readers to decide for themselves on his protagonist’s guilt or innocence.
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes written entirely in dialogue alternate with thoughtful, introspective journal entries that offer a sense of Steve’s terror and confusion, and that deftly demonstrate Myers’s point: the road from innocence to trouble is comprised of small, almost invisible steps, each involving an experience in which a “positive moral decision” was not made. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-028077-8
Page Count: 280
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1999
PERSPECTIVES
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing.
For the second time in her life, Leo must choose between her family and true love.
Nineteen-year-old Princess Leonie Kolburg’s royal family is bankrupt. In order to salvage the fortune they accrued before humans fled the frozen Earth 170 years ago, Leonie’s father is forcing her to participate in the Valg Season, an elaborate set of matchmaking events held to facilitate the marriages of rich and royal teens. Leo grudgingly joins in even though she has other ideas: She’s invented a water filtration system that, if patented, could provide a steady income—that is if Leo’s calculating Aunt Freja, the Captain of the ship hosting the festivities, stops blocking her at every turn. Just as Leo is about to give up hope, her long-lost love, Elliot, suddenly appears onboard three years after Leo’s family forced her to break off their engagement. Donne (Brightly Burning, 2018) returns to space, this time examining the fascinatingly twisted world of the rich and famous. Leo and her peers are nuanced, deeply felt, and diverse in terms of sexuality but not race, which may be a function of the realities of wealth and power. The plot is fast paced although somewhat uneven: Most of the action resolves in the last quarter of the book, which makes the resolutions to drawn-out conflicts feel rushed.
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing. (Science fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-94894-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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