Accomplice

Gr 8 Up—Looking for a way to differentiate themselves from all the other great students applying to prestigious universities, Finn and Chloe fake the latter's disappearance in order to attract attention. Chloe conceived this plan after following the media frenzy over an abducted teen's return to her family, sure that the now-famous Margaret Cook will be accepted to any college. Though plagued with doubts, Finn keeps a straight face while lying to everyone, occasionally sneaking out to check on Chloe, who is hiding in her vacationing grandmother's basement. Despite having discussed every extenuating circumstance imaginable, the girls are stunned when police arrest Chloe's friend Dean for her murder, a crime only they know he did not commit. They stage her return from her "kidnapping" with surprisingly few complications, but things are never the same between the two best friends. Describing events from Finn's first-person perspective, Corrigan paints a complex portrait both of a family in grief and the emotions involved in deception. She deftly captures the way one mistake can lead to others, snowballing into a situation that seems insurmountable. Unfortunately, the story's premise is a bit hard to swallow. With modern society offering so many other routes to becoming a celebrity, it's hard to believe the teens would take this one. Readers who can get past that will find this well-paced, mature, psychological tale is impossible to put down.—Jennifer Barnes, formerly at Homewood Library, IL