Book Review: At the Speed of Lies by Cindy L. Otis
Published: June 6th 2023 by Scholastic
Rating: ★★★★ (4)
Genre: Young Adult // Mystery, Thriller
Quick Thoughts: A heart-pounding thriller with an engrossing and high stakes storyline worth every page turned.
About The Book:
Quinn Calvet was supposed to be having an epic year. She had all kinds of plans with her best friend, Ximena, and sister, Ava, and to grow her following as an influencer on The Whine. Instead, Quinn finds herself third wheel to Ximena and her new boyfriend or getting ditched by Ava who has turned into an overachiever, obsessed with studying and joining every school club. It brings up Quinn’s old feelings that her disability has her left behind. She tries to talk to Ava about it, but she’s too busy with the newest club at school, Defend Kids, which is working frantically to help find two kids who were recently kidnapped from a nearby town.
Suddenly, Defend Kids is all anyone is talking about, and whenever Quinn posts about them on The Whine, she gains tons of new followers and her posts go viral. As the club works to get the message out, more kids in the surrounding area go missing, but it seems like the police and the media aren’t doing much about it. When two of Quinn’s classmates are kidnapped, the dangers that Defend Kids are trying to fight become all too real.
As Quinn and her friends search for the missing kids, tensions escalate at school, there’s an uptick in bullying, and conspiracy theories abound. Before she knows it, Quinn and The Whine are at the center of it all, trying to find out what’s really happening. Only the truth might be more deadly than anyone knows…
First Thoughts
We were having such an intense heatwave that I didn’t really anticipate any rainy days, but then the thunder and overcast clouds came, and this thriller called out to me! When Scholastic initially offered it to me, I knew it would be a great fit. I love mystery-thrillers with all my heart, and this one sounds like a gem! (Watch me try not to get confused as my last read’s main character was also called Quinn with a side character called Asher, too!)
My Review
Quinn was planning to have a great year, but in a flash it’s going off-course. Her best friend has a new boyfriend that she spends all her time with and her sister Ava has turned into a busy overachiever overnight, joining various school clubs and groups to get ahead. At first, Quinn thinks it’s because of her disability that she’s been left behind. As she’s a wheelchair user, not everyone she comes across is friendly and accommodating, and as we all know, there is a lot of ableism out in the world.
But when Ava begins talking about a new club at school called Defend Kids, Quinn finds herself intrigued. The group is trying to desperately find two kids that had been kidnapped from a town close by, and soon word catches on, and everyone is talking about the group. Quinn finds when she posts about it on social media—on an app called The Whine—she suddenly gets tons of followers. The more she posts about it, the more she goes viral. But when the Defend Kids club spreads the word further, the more kids in the area go missing. Only, with little help from the police or mainstream media, the searching falls into the hands of the club—especially after two of Quinn’s classmates go missing. With conspiracy theories flying, tensions rising and accusations thrown, Quinn finds herself at the centre of it all. But when the truth comes crashing down, it’s even stranger and deadlier than ever could have been anticipated.
Overall, The Speed Of Lies was a heart-pounding thriller with an engrossing and high stakes storyline worth every page turned. I was really happy to see disability rep as I have close family and friends that use wheelchairs (and I have myself in the past as I have a chronic illness) so it was refreshing to have a main character that felt real. The story had so many dimensions to it, like what we want to believe and the truth, or the conspiracy of something being gospel over facts, and how far lies and deceit can stretch when gossip runs. It’s hard to go into too much detail without spoiling things, but I will say that this was such a great read. It reminded me of books by Kathryn Foxfield and Gina Blaxill (both of whom I love) with that signature twisty mystery goodness I always eat up. An incredible four star read!
About The Author
Cindy is the author of AT THE SPEED OF LIES, a contemporary thriller out now with Scholastic. Cindy is also the author of TRUE OR FALSE, the critically acclaimed YA non-fiction read published in 2020 by Macmillan/Feiwel&Friends.
She was born on the West Coast and raised in the northeast where she spends more time than she would like maintaining the tenuous peace between her pets.
Have you read At The Speed Of Lies?
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happy reading!
