You Won't Know I'm Gone

December 1, 2017

Gr 10 Up-Once a member of the elite and guaranteed a place at the Black Angel Academy due to her lineage, Reagan Hills is now fighting for a spot with all of the other potentials. Raised to be a covert soldier her entire life, Reagan took matters into her own hands to rescue her kidnapped parents in You Don't Know My Name. The unauthorized rogue mission had dire consequences, the most brutal being the death of her mother right in from of Reagan's eyes. Ever since, she has undiagnosed anxiety attacks, PTSD, and insomnia. Still, she works her way through qualifiers, making friends and enemies along the way. This sequel has a distinctly different feel than the previous volume. Reagan is still an amazing strategist and fighter, but now she is on a knife's edge with the triviality of high school a distant happy memory. The feeling of panic and her constant reliving of her mother's death, coupled with Reagan's questioning of her culpability, is visceral. The protagonist feels fractured, often surviving on instinct and muscle memory alone. This change is only truly explored in her closest relationships, since no one else truly knows her. The fast-paced sequel ends with another huge cliff-hanger that will have fans salivating for the next installment. VERDICT A must-purchase for where the first book is popular. A good selection for high school collections that thrive on series, secret agents, spy craft, and kick-ass heroines who stagnate in isolation.-Melyssa Kenney, Parkville High School, MD

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2017
Grades 9-12 Reagan Hillis got her mother killed, or so she thinks. Trained from a young age to be an elite spy for the secretive Black Angel agency, Reagan was on a mission in Colombia when the evil crime boss Torres made his move, resulting in her mother's death. Now, instead of being treated as the chosen onethe daughter of two famous Black Angelsshe has to try 10 times harder than the other recruits to earn her place. The academy isn't a friendly place for a girl like Reagan thoughdozens of students have been measured against her all their lives, and the exclusivity of the school makes her an outcast. On another mission, she's the first to defy orders, and the threat of her dismissal from the Angels is palpable. This sequel to You Don't Know My Name (2016) holds its own, and it is almost more tense than its predecessor. Reagan, reminiscent of Tris Prior and Katniss Everdeen, is a heroine who's easy to root for.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
Reagan Hillis's spot at the elite Black Angel Training Academy is no longer guaranteed, despite her keen spy skills and Black Angel lineage; she's traumatized and guilt-ridden by her fellow-agent mother's death during a rogue mission (in You Don't Know My Name). Reagan's struggle to reconcile her ghosts with the person she wants to be adds emotional heft to this second spy thriller.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)