There Will Be Lies

November 10, 2014
Lake returns to the mix of reality and fantasy he used to great success in his Printz-winning In Darkness for this story narrated by Shelby Cooper, a deaf teen whose life is upended when she is struck by an out-of-control Humvee in Scottsdale, Ariz. Shelby’s injuries aren’t life-threatening, but her mother panics, spiriting her away for a Thelma and Louise–style road trip to the Grand Canyon. Heretofore, Shaylene Cooper kept Shelby on a short leash, but Shelby soon learns that their cloistered existence had a darker genesis than maternal overprotectiveness. What Shelby discovers about her past is so unsettling that she retreats into an allegorical landscape known as the Dreaming. In this alternate world, drawn from Native American mythologies, Shelby is befriended by Coyote and told she is on a quest to kill the Crone and save a child whose cries she has heard for years in a recurring nightmare. These fantasy sequences are not as taut or thrilling as the real-world chapters, but Shelby is highly sympathetic, and readers will stick with her as she figures out who she can trust. Ages 14–up. Agent: Caradoc King, United Agents.