Friends Like These

September 15, 2022
A cruel prank gets out of control. Jessica Sanchez and Jake Healy are their small town's most Instagrammable couple, but they are only hoping for a quiet start to their senior year. Northern California's Crystal Cove has a coastline with brutal waves, chilly shark-filled water, and riptides, all setting the scene for a dangerous location where a last summer get-together before school starts can easily escalate into something deadly. At a drugs- and alcohol-fueled party hosted by Tegan Sheffield, Jessica's former best friend who is also Jake's ex-girlfriend, the pair have a fight and go their separate ways. Jake goes looking for Jessica, but he ends up in bed with Tegan--and worse, his betrayal is livestreamed for everyone at the party to watch on the TV downstairs, Jessica included. Jessica's heartbroken, but there are worse things to be: Jake is 17, Tegan is 18, the video that is now doing the rounds qualifies as child pornography, and the FBI is involved. When people go missing and a body is found, this satisfyingly gripping cautionary tale with multiple unreliable narrators in which nobody is what they seem ramps up. With pulsing dialogue and believable action, the thriller raises the stakes at every turn. The characters take readers on a journey that interrogates consent, bullying, and, ultimately, friendship. Characters are minimally described and racially ambiguous. A fast-paced thriller to keep readers on the edges of their seats. (author's note) (Thriller. 13-18)

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 10, 2022
After a heartless joke goes wrong, a California teenager disappears in this complexly plotted mystery by Alvarez (Lies Like Wildfire). Though Jessica Sanchez, 17, and Tegan Sheffield, 18, constantly butt heads over Jessica’s boyfriend Jake Healey, 17, with whom Tegan is in love, Jessica attends Tegan’s end-of-summer house party at Jake’s urging. But Jessica’s security in their romance is shattered when, after she loses track of Jake at the party, TVs throughout the house begin broadcasting a live video feed of him and Tegan having sex. The next morning, Jake wakes up in his own bed with little memory of the party’s events. When Tegan is declared missing, it’s not his only concern. The sex tape has gone viral overnight, given Jake’s status as a minor, prompting the FBI to open an investigation into distribution of child pornography, and other teens have begun mysteriously disappearing. Alvarez keenly divides the narrative into propulsive alternating first-person chapters between Jake, Jessica, her best friend Chloe, and Tegan pre-disappearance to keep readers on their toes while realistic teen dialogue sensitively examines themes of bullying and consent in this jam-packed thriller. Characters default to white. Ages 12–up. Agent: Elizabeth Bewley, Sterling Lord Literistic.

November 1, 2022
Grades 9-12 At the insistence of her boyfriend, Jake, Jessica attends the end-of-summer party held by Tegan, Crystal Cove's queen bee (as well as Jake's ex). At the party, Jake and Tegan have a sexual encounter that somehow gets broadcast to everyone, including Jessica. But her broken heart isn't the worst thing that happens. Tegan mysteriously vanishes, and Jake--his memory a mess of blurry images--begins to suspect that he's had a hand in her disappearance. Despite the fissure that now separates Jake and Jessica, they must work together to locate Tegan and find out what really happened that night. Alvarez has penned a true page-turner, one that has the reader guessing from the first chapter to the last. She does a fine job of showing the corrosive effects of secrets and long-held grudges on a community. The characters are quite well drawn, with the three POV characters cast in shades of gray. For those who adore edgy thrillers, this is a fantastic read.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2023

Gr 10 Up-Jake is determined to make the most of senior year-the last year he will have before his girlfriend, Jessica, moves away for college and inevitably breaks up with him. He convinces Jessica to attend an end-of-summer party hosted by his ex, Tegan, who is still madly in love with him. After much underage drinking and a highly publicized act of sex, everyoneself world is turned upside-down. A girl is missing, Jake can't remember what happened at the party, Jessica won't talk to him, and EVERYONE is talking about "the video." When a body turns up on the beach, lies start to pile up and no one knows who to trust. Alvarez's novel explores the ever-changing dynamics of high school, how competition can turn friends into enemies, and how even the simplest of lies can have an impact on everything. This fast-paced thriller will keep readers hooked right up to the last page. It is geared toward mature teens comfortable with references to sex, drugs, drinking, and some violence. The number for the National Sexual Assault Hotline is listed in the back matter. Main characters present as white; ethnicity is not stated. VERDICT Recommended for purchase where thrillers and mysteries are popular.-Ashley Grillo

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.