Meme

July 15, 2020
Four high school seniors take matters into their own hands when one of their friends becomes dangerously unhinged. It starts with bad-boy Cole's murder and secret burial in a grave that will soon be covered by Vermont's winter snow. This is the final step in Logan, Meeka, Holly, and Grayson's solution to Cole's increasingly violent threats toward his ex-girlfriend, Meeka. The friends believe that killing Cole was the only way to stay safe, to prevent something terrible from happening to them or others. And to ensure none of them would betray the rest, they record a video confession on old phones they were no longer using which they bury with Cole. But a few days later their faces are all over social media, plastered on a new meme based on a screenshot from their video confession. But how was the picture leaked if their phones are as dead and buried as Cole? Did one of them betray the group, or is Cole somehow still alive? Self-serving, unsympathetic characters struggle with suspicion, paranoia, and guilt throughout this taut psychological thriller about the dangers of the internet and the alt-right movement, but the attempt to engage with a promising thematic core is as superficial as the overall character development. All characters are assumed White apart from Meeka, who is adopted and ambiguously cued as a person of color. An unconvincing, skin-deep psychological thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 3, 2020
Starmer (Spontaneous) crafts a neo-noir-flavored revenge thriller that stabs at the heart of 21st-century isolation. Murdered by ex-girlfriend Meeka and her three teenage compatriots, Cole lies buried in a 100-acre Vermont backyard. After Cole began threatening violence against his former flame and her friends, Meeka, together with Holly, Logan, and Grayson, did what they felt was necessary to keep themselves safe. Though the three filmed their confession (“He had access to guns. He was great at hiding things”) on long-unused phones now entombed alongside Cole, things unravel quickly when a meme makes the rounds at school—one featuring a photograph that could only have come from one of the devices. Is one of the group trying to torture the others, or is Cole not as dead as assumed? Starmer swipes at what white privilege, toxic masculinity, and lonely anger can produce in the internet’s dark corners; though a few ends remain loose and the social commentary isn’t always incisive, a tense, revolving first-person narrative propels the reader through an absorbing scheme-gone-wrong mystery. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

September 18, 2020

Gr 9 Up-Logan, Holly, Grayson, and Meeka decide that their ex-friend Cole Weston is too dangerous to live. After Meeka breaks up with Cole, he becomes increasingly unstable and repeatedly threatens her with violence. They poison Cole and bury him in the woods behind Meeka's house, along with four phones holding their confessions, thinking that the worst is behind them. Days later, they are horrified to discover a meme-a screenshot of their confessions-that pops up all over school. A meme that shouldn't exist, because their phones shouldn't be accessible by anyone. Suddenly the teens' "perfect crime" begins to unravel. They begin to suspect everyone around them, including each other, and doubt whether Cole met his final end that night. Only one of the teens knows the truth...but who? This mystery will appeal to young adults who thrive on suspense stories. At times riveting, the novel also presents a somewhat callous and amoral depiction of murder. The kids do not seem genuinely sorry about killing their friend, worrying instead about either getting away with it completely or their own personal projects, which include running a successful charity website and beating a local soccer score. While they repeatedly rationalize killing another human being as the "right thing to do," the story conveys an unintended yet strongly irredeemable sense of irresponsibility and, ultimately, a lost opportunity to develop the characters' sense of guilt at murdering an important figure in all of their respective lives. Characters' appearances are mostly undescribed; Meeka is adopted and looks different than her parents, but her ethnicity is unspecified. VERDICT A supplemental purchase for YA collections.-Ryan P. Donovan, Southborough P.L. MA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.