Publishers Weekly Review
McManus (One of Us Is Lying) once again crafts a taut, multilayered mystery, this time focusing on the fallout of family estrangement on the next generation. When Mildred "Milly" Story-Takahashi is summoned to a dinner with her mother, she expects bad news, not a mysterious invitation to work at her wealthy maternal grandmother's resort on Gull Cove Island. Milly and her cousins Jonah and Aubrey will be the first Storys to be welcomed back after a 24-year estrangement that their abruptly disinherited parents claim not to understand--one that began with a lawyer's note stating "You know what you did." Forced to spend the summer on Gull Cove Island, the cousins are startled to find both that they were not, after all, expected and that at least one party wants them gone. As the three piece together what happened to their family, they begin to reveal their own secrets as well. Narrating her thriller through multiple perspectives that encompass both generations of Storys, McManus weaves past and present to take readers on a well-paced, twisty ride that will hold readers rapt till the last page. Ages 14--up. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (Dec.) |
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--Three teenage cousins who have met only on a few occasions are asked by their estranged grandmother to work for a summer at her exclusive island resort. Years before, their grandmother cut off contact with and disinherited their parents without notice. The last words given through the grandmother's lawyer to her own children were, "You know what you did." Their parents each insist that the cousins attempt ingratiate themselves with the family matriarch. From the beginning, all is not as it seems. Lies upon lies pile up as the three cousins slowly unravel the truth behind their family's true inheritance: secrets. Though this winding plot will enthrall mystery lovers, the lack of real jeopardy and poorly foreshadowed plot twists take away from the intensity of a thriller. A predictable and unsatisfying resolution detracts from the strength of the piece--interesting and multifaceted main characters. Though narrators Sarah Skaer, Kate Reinders, David Garelik, and Julia Whelan provide excellent performances individually, they are not significantly different in tone. At times the readers' cadences and the writing style of the characters are so similar that listeners may not realize which character is speaking. VERDICT This is a supplementary purchase for libraries with young adults clamoring for more suspense like One of Us Is Lying.--Lisa Youngblood, Harker Heights P.L., TX |