Strange Lies

August 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-The teens at Winship Academy return for their latest mystery: who staged the bizarre deer antler attack at the science expo that nearly killed DeAndre? Sleuths Benny and Virginia employ their Mystery Club (of two) to uncover the truth. Benny quickly suspects a hate crime as DeAndre is one of the only African Americans at Winship. Secret drug deals in the girls' bathroom, the unexplained suspension of a student, and the creepy Headmaster's abusive relationship with his equally creepy son prove threads leading to the truth, yet other plotlines lead nowhere. Benny and Virginia are consumed with solving the mystery for the mystery's sake, not for justice. As in Strange Truth, they discover a murderer in their midst and do nothing but effectively shrug. Thrash employs stereotypes of spoiled, rich white teens; and racist, sexist Southern culture. The only black character is the victimized, poor football player hailing from a family of rubes (in an especially offensive portrayal, DeAndre's uncle cries, "They got real ham biscuits!") who almost completely lacks a voice. In an outlandish scene, a parent-sanctioned, student-run fundraiser involves auctioning tequila shots off girls' stomachs-and all the girls are flattered. The author weaves suspense throughout, but ultimately, these tropes are introduced without nuance and deeper exploration. VERDICT The offensive stereotypes and flat, narcissistic characters demean this book's audience.-Laura Falli, McNeil High School, Austin, TX

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2017
The second installment of Thrash's (We Know It Was You, 2016) Strange Truth series finds teen sleuths Benny Flax and Virginia Leeds embroiled in a series of increasingly twisted and interrelated mysteries. Benny Flax's ambition in founding the Mystery Club at Atlanta's prestigious Winship Academy is to solve mysteries with an aim to seeking the truth, though bringing the guilty parties to justice is not his concern. Virginia Leeds is happy to be his partner as an antidote to the boredom of life as a boarder at Winship, though Benny himself remains a mystery to her. Thrash has perfected the voices of her white protagonists, two oddball outsiders whose quirks come off as natural in the context of her self-assured, madcap storytelling. Their latest case materializes at the school's science expo, when a mysterious drug dealer in the girl's bathroom is upstaged by an apparent freak accident in which DeAndre Bell, the popular African-American student-body president, is gruesomely impaled by a set of deer antlers. This dark chain of events sets Benny and Virginia down a maze of different paths to discover what really happened. Fast-paced and suspenseful, the plotting of this outing is both more plausible and more complicated than the last. The novel concludes on several cliffhangers and loose ends, leaving readers with plenty to ponder. Thrash's brazen characters and dark humor will compel readers forward. (Mystery. 14-adult)

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.