ALEX, BY PROXY

A tragic tale of a family shattered and a teenage son who’s trying to put the pieces back together.

Sixteen-year-old Alex has been slowly poisoned by his mother for the past decade—but at last she’s set to go to trial. But things are so much more complicated than the “Monster Mommy” headlines indicate. Their town is divided: Did Alex do it to himself? Was it all in his head? Even Alex, who struggles with his mental health, wonders whether some of his memories are symptoms of his psychosis. As the trial—and his testimony on the stand—approaches, Alex joins former best friend Bryce and classmates Naomi and Ella (who accused Alex on TikTok of attention-seeking self-inflicted harm) to create a podcast to bring the truth to light. Alex is protective of and parental toward his gifted little brother, Logan, who’s on the periphery of everything; shunted to the side, Logan escaped his mother’s twisted obsession. Although the prose frequently leans into telling rather than showing, debut author Cantor writes sensitively about serious topics like factitious disorder imposed on another (formerly known as Munchausen by proxy), mental illness, familial rupture, and friendship conflicts. The third-person narrative takes readers into Alex’s mind as he questions everyone and everything, including his own uncertain memories of growing up. Most central characters read white, and Naomi is cued Black.

An intense spin on true-crime podcast stories that reels readers in.