Dead Girls Talking

April 15, 2024
Small-town secrets, dead blonds, and teen sleuths. In a North Carolina town where social class dominates, wealthy Bettina Jane Holland, who comes from old money, lives under the shadow of her father's brutal murder of her mother. Trapper McGrath, her father, was a drifter who never finished high school, and Bett's been raised by her maternal grandparents, the Hollands. Now, on the 10th anniversary of Trapper's conviction, Bett finds another woman murdered in the same way--and learns that the prosecutor from the original case (an associate of Bett's powerful grandfather) has died by suicide. Bett, torn between pleasing her old-fashioned grandparents (who employ staff and have formal dinners every night) and rebelling against them, needs to believe in her father's guilt despite his long-maintained innocence in order to live with the fact that her testimony put him away. She's consumed by her own drama and pushes away anyone who asks about the murder, including her longtime best friend, whose financially struggling mother started a "ghost tour" to capitalize on the murder and bring in cash. Clunky dialogue, an obvious red herring that drives the plot, and an ending that shies away from the moral complexities Bett seemed poised to confront detract from the central puzzle. Main characters are coded white. An also-ran in the crowded YA mystery/thriller space. (Mystery. 13-18)

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May 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 When she trips over a dead body in the woods on her way home from visiting her mother's grave, Bettina Holland is shaken for more than one reason: the body has markings similar to those left on Bettina's mother's body by her murderer, Bettina's father. The local mortician's daughter, Eugenia, joins Bettina on her search for answers to the questions raised by this new murder. The impact of true-crime obsessions on victims' loved ones is written starkly into the bones of Bettina's character, who lacks any real social connections because of her visceral reaction to push away anyone who so much as mentions her mother. The tentative friendship she develops with Eugenia is part character expansion, part thesis statement in an attempt at commentary on solidarity between women, and adds to a twisty plot. The execution of this thriller finds more success in the latter, a success largely due to subtle authorial machinations that drag everyone's motivations--including Bettina's--into question. Even seasoned thriller readers will find the open-ended conclusion spine-tingling.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 16, 2024

Gr 8 Up-When Bettina was six years old, her mother was brutally murdered just down the hall from where she sat, and her witness testimony put the notorious Smiley Face Killer-her own father-behind bars. Bett is now a teenager living with her maternal grandparents, and her father, Trapper, maintains his innocence during their court-mandated prison visitation. Then, in their town of Wolf Ridge, bodies begin to turn up, each carved with the signature smile-shaped laceration of the Smiley Face Killer. Is it a copycat or was her father always innocent? Implausibly, Bett just happens to be the one to stumble upon each of these new bodies. She leverages a new friendship with Eugenia, the local mortician's daughter, to investigate the murders, wondering about her father's guilt when she was the one who sent him to prison. This fast-paced serial murder mystery is loaded with thrilling moments and complex questions that readers will stick around to see answered. VERDICT Enjoyable, but not a standout in the teen sleuth genre. A secondary purchase.-Kayla Fontaine

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