The Safest Lies

Starred review from February 8, 2016
Miranda (Soulprint) explores the traumatic effects of fear conditioning while offering chills aplenty in this frightening thriller. Kelsey Thomas lives in a beautiful home with her mother, Amanda, who hasn’t left for 17 years, since Kelsey was born. The house is a fortress meant to keep any threat at bay. When Kelsey is involved in a car accident and rescued by volunteer fireman and classmate Ryan Baker, it kicks off a series of events that bring to light the horror that her mother suffered all those years ago. Then Kelsey’s mother disappears. Someone has Kelsey in his or her sights, and it’s surely connected to her mother’s past. Desperate to find her mother, Kelsey, with Ryan’s help, begins sifting through clues about her mother’s abduction and discovers that nothing is what it seems. Writing from Kelsey’s first-person perspective, Miranda expertly builds a sense of dread, leaving readers to uncover the truth right alongside Kelsey. A touch of romance adds levity, and the breathless cat-and-mouse game between Kelsey and her shadowy pursuers makes this a fast-paced, suspenseful treat. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency.

March 1, 2016
Kelsey has lived her entire 17 years with her mother in a house set up like a fortress. When her agoraphobic mom disappears, Kelsey finds herself in real danger. Kelsey's mother was a famous kidnapping victim, and Kelsey is the daughter of the kidnapper. Her mom has no memory of the year she spent confined in a dark basement, but when she escaped she bought an upscale secluded house and rigged it up with a sophisticated security system, complete with barred windows and a panic room. A traffic accident puts the white teen in contact with classmate Ryan, a volunteer firefighter (and also white) who rescues her. On returning home from a ceremony honoring him, Kelsey realizes not only that her mother is missing, but that someone is trying to get into the house, sending her and Ryan into the panic room. Once their ordeal ends, Kelsey's full of questions about her still-missing mother. All of Kelsey's life, her mom has taught her to lie. Can it be that her mom has lied to her? Miranda writes some marvelously suspenseful scenes and keeps the story's pace zooming along at a high clip during extensive action scenes. She keeps an underlying plotline of a romance with Ryan flowing along, and it provides nice relief from the suspense. If Ryan seems a bit too good to be true, fans won't mind. Positively movie-ready. (Thriller. 12-18)

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April 1, 2016

Gr 7-10-Kelsey awakens dangling upside down from her seat belt, her car having careened through the guard rail. She is pretty sure a car forced her off the road, but the police find no sign of another vehicle. Kelsey has good reason to be fearful. Her mother was abducted at age 17, held for over a year, and then escaped, pregnant. Kelsey's mother lives in constant fear of being pursued by her captors. Their house is a fortress, which she has never left, and Kelsey has been homeschooled until now. Only a visit from the state's child services department has forced her mother to allow the teen to have a minimal amount of freedom-she can attend the local high school. An insightful bit of research on mice epigenetics referenced by her mother's therapist reveals that a parent's fears can be passed to second-generation children through DNA, even though they have not experienced the same traumas. Is it actual danger that lurks around every corner, or is Kelsey just manifesting her mother's ingrained phobias? YA suspense at its very best: this psychological thriller will blow readers' minds. VERDICT A fantastic choice for reluctant readers, this page-turner will be a hit with fans of Eliot Schrefer's The Deadly Sister.-Leah Krippner, Harlem High School, Machesney Park, IL

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 For Kelsey and her mother, life is a series of habits: letting the car idle, making sure their bags are nearby, and checking the backseat before getting in a car are all part of their everyday rituals. The actions stem from the fact that Kelsey's mother was kidnapped before Kelsey was born; she escaped while pregnant with Kelsey, but has been taken over by fear ever since. When Kelsey gets into an accident on the steep mountain roads near home, she has a run-in with volunteer firefighter Ryan and wonders if she is letting her mom's panic overtake her life. But then the unthinkable happens. Her mother is kidnapped again, and Kelsey has to do the hardest thing she can think of: trust Ryan. A scientific and psychological undercurrent runs through the narrative, questioning just how much we pick up through genetics, underscoring the two lead characters and their very different backgrounds. Recommended for any collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
Kelsey's mother has refused to leave their fortified house for years, having been traumatized by her past as a kidnapping victim. When her mother suddenly disappears again, Kelsey's investigations unearth secrets that upend her life. As she evades her own pursuer, Kelsey confronts the fears that have defined her life since childhood. The high psychological stakes keep the tension humming in this fast-paced thriller.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)