July 6th 2021 by Sourcebooks Fire
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Andrea lives "in a nice house with hardwood floors and...[eats] Cheerios every morning", but wakes up bloody and alone in a hotel room to find out that her father has been murdered, her mother is in critical condition in the hospital, and her younger brother Josh is missing. She is wanted by the police as a person of interest, but as time passes, she becomes a suspect. She finds an unlikely ally in Nate, the clerk at the hotel desk, whose mother abandoned him. Since he's 18 he's managed to work out a deal with the hotel owner to live on site, but he knows the trauma of uncertainty and neglect growing up. Andrea maintains that her family was loving and stable, but as more and more reports show up on the news, she learns some secrets about her past. She can't turn herself into the police, since they would never believe her innocence, so with Nate's help, starts to investigate on her own. She has other suspects in mind; an angry ex-boyfriend, a friend and neighbor who was loaned money by her father, and maybe even shady characters from her family's past. Will she be able to find Josh before harm comes to him, and prove her own innocence, even though she can't really remember what happened?
Strengths: Wow. This was a fantastic murder mystery. It starts with a stressful, suspenseful premise and builds from there. Nate as an ally makes perfect sense, and he is a steadying presence in the background. The contrast between Andrea's "perfect" family and his own troubled one is great, considering that Andrea is the one in trouble. The brushes with the police are a bit unlikely, but plausible, and add to the suspense. The key to the mystery is a twist I don't want to spoil. With a few tweaks, this would be great for all of my readers who crave murder mysteries.
Weaknesses: The blinding pain that Andrea experiences a couple of times isn't explained that well, and the cover isn't great.
What I really think: Too many f-bombs for a middle school library (and they weren't necessary at all), and this is available only in paperback and e book versions, although Follett does have a prebind. The language is a shame, because there's little violence, no sex, and would otherwise be exactly the sort of murder mystery my students want.
Strengths: Wow. This was a fantastic murder mystery. It starts with a stressful, suspenseful premise and builds from there. Nate as an ally makes perfect sense, and he is a steadying presence in the background. The contrast between Andrea's "perfect" family and his own troubled one is great, considering that Andrea is the one in trouble. The brushes with the police are a bit unlikely, but plausible, and add to the suspense. The key to the mystery is a twist I don't want to spoil. With a few tweaks, this would be great for all of my readers who crave murder mysteries.
Weaknesses: The blinding pain that Andrea experiences a couple of times isn't explained that well, and the cover isn't great.
What I really think: Too many f-bombs for a middle school library (and they weren't necessary at all), and this is available only in paperback and e book versions, although Follett does have a prebind. The language is a shame, because there's little violence, no sex, and would otherwise be exactly the sort of murder mystery my students want.
Reminder: Authors are welcome to use any kind of language they want. Since I have a limited budget, it seems unwise to spend taxpayer money on books that contain language that would cause my students to get suspended if they used it in school.
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