GONE BEFORE YOU KNEW ME

Seventeen-year-old Talya has perfected the art of avoiding attention.

After her parents were killed in a carjacking, she relocated to an unnamed town to live with her mysterious uncle. When new student Axel arrives, Talya is immediately suspicious: He’s several years older than the rest of the senior class, and his clothes and shoes are oddly pristine. Convinced he’s a spy, she confronts him and reveals that her father was a secret agent. Axel reluctantly agrees to train Talya, who’s convinced she’s in danger, to protect herself. They break into the school’s rifle range, where Talya learns about ballistics and engages in target practice and hand-to-hand combat lessons with Axel. As the training intensifies, the two grow closer, although Axel’s protectiveness feels more like an imitation of Edward Cullen’s brooding control, minus the spark Stephenie Meyer brought to her characters, and the age gap and power imbalance between the two feels unsettling at times. The novel employs liberal foreshadowing, but it fails to generate real suspense, and the minimal character development leaves little reason for readers to care about the outcome. Odd behavior from students and teachers offers clues and red herrings about the event that brought Axel to town, but the plot often strains credulity, with characters leaping to wild conclusions and acting irrationally. The chapter headings and redacted names throughout point to the text being a transcript of recorded interviews. Main characters present white.

An underdeveloped spy tale with implausible plotting and a flat romance.