The Truth Beneath the Lies

October 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-Kayla wants to escape her life with her former-addict mother in subsidized housing and her job at the grocery store. She wants out, despite the fact that she has managed to fit in fairly well with her dance team and a popular group at school. Betsy is terrified. She is starting over in a completely new town and is inexplicably tied to a cell phone she hides under her bed. These two stories are told in alternating chapters detailing Kayla's intensifying interest in and involvement with the mysterious disappearances of local girls, and Betsy's attempts to extricate herself from the terrifying man at the other end of the cell phone. Kayla's narrative reveals her history in foster care and her desire for an older, dangerous man as the mystery ramps up, while Betsy is convinced that the world around her is dangerous while she is trying to fit into her new environment. The dual narratives converge with the ultimate reveal about how Kayla and Betsy are connected. The prose is terse and overly dramatic in places, which fits the genre's trappings, but the big reveal is predictable and will be easily deduced by savvy readers. VERDICT Recommended for large high school library collections, especially those with a base of suspense/thriller fans who are not quite ready for Gone Girl.-Kate Olson, Bangor School District, WI

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 Kayla Asher and Betsy Hopewell are both trying to survive in less-than-ideal circumstances in Searcy's twist-filled debut. Kayla lives in run-down Bluebird Estates, works at No Limit Foods, where her manager is a jerkand is trying to avoid being murdered by the serial killer targeting poor girls in her neighborhood. Meanwhile, Betsy is coping with life at a new school and a potential new stepdad, but dangerous people from her past haunt her. If Betsy doesn't call a ghost from her past every day, within 24 hours she could die. While Kayla meets new guy Jordan and gets closer to him, Betsy starts questioning the people at her school and whether they have sinister ulterior motives. Both girls spend most of the novel trying to avoid danger, whether it's via suspicious classmates or drug addicts who live down the hall. Told in dual POV with unreliable narrators and red herrings, this thrilling, fast-paced, and complex story will leave the reader questioning the truth until the very end.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
Readers are introduced to two seemingly discrete story lines: Kayla is desperate to escape poverty and a rough home life with her addict mother; Betsy is terrorized by threatening phone calls. In alternating chapters, each girl narrates her increasingly ominous story. Even if astute readers prematurely figure out the connection, they'll nevertheless enjoy the mounting suspense in this well-plotted mystery.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from October 1, 2017
Two seemingly unrelated girls struggle to survive in different, dire circumstances.White teen Betsy has been living in a small town near El Paso for five months, hiding from the black burner phone under her bed that haunts her. If it rings and she doesn't call back within 24 hours, the caller on the other end will send someone to kill her. Traumatized by the mysterious life she left behind, Betsy hesitantly makes friends with pregnant, Mexican teen Mirasol, nicknamed Happy. Betsy becomes close to Happy's family, but she can't quite trust anyone, not yet. Meanwhile, white teen Kayla lives in a small town in Washington and struggles to support herself and her mother, who is recovering from drug addiction, by working in a supermarket and living in government housing. All she wants is to work her way out of there; she can't afford distractions like the cute boy who starts showing up during her shifts. But a killer has started targeting girls in her neighborhood, and she can't shake the feeling she's next. As the frequency of the burner calls accelerates for Betsy, Kayla falls in love, blinding herself to danger as it closes in. Told in alternating first-person chapters, the girls' stories converge seamlessly in an enthralling tailspin. Readers will be left breathless, the hair on the backs of their necks standing up.An intricately plotted thriller that's both gritty and engrossing. (Thriller. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.