Don't Breathe a Word by Jordyn Taylor

Abstract

Reviewed by: Don't Breathe a Word by Jordyn Taylor Alaine Martaus Taylor, Jordyn Don't Breathe a Word. HarperTeen, 2021 [352 p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780063038882 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063038905 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 8-12 In spring 1962, as the Cold War breeds fears of nuclear annihilation, six students at prestigious Hardwick Prep, including sixteen-year-old Connie, are chosen to test the school's new bomb shelter; something goes horribly wrong, and only five come out alive. In the current day, lonely new junior Eva is about to get drawn into that tragic event's dark legacy. Desperate for friends, Eva is thrilled to learn she's been tagged to join the Fives, an elite secret society of the school's best and brightest. Hooked by the sense of belonging, Eva is initially happy to ignore signs that the group is less social networking, more student surveillance. Soon her misgivings and a friendship with fellow outsider Erik lead her to investigate the Fives' history and its ties to that horrific day sixty years ago. As twisted secrets are revealed, Eva must decide whether to stay loyal or reveal the truth. Unfolding alongside Connie's narration of what really happened in the fallout shelter, itself a nailbiter subplot that's part Milgram test, part Stanford prison experiment, Eva's story is a psychological thriller that's both gripping and thought provoking. Chapters alternate between Connie and Eva, drawing attention to a web of power and secrets whose strands reach from the past to entangle each new generation of students, while the perfectly paced reveals build pressure to a single moment of breathtaking violence and satisfying, if imperfect, final showdown. The girls' narrative voices, meanwhile, offer a compelling glimpse at how easy it is to fall in line, even against a gut feeling that something is wrong. Overall, it's a bingeworthy pageturner that will leave readers asking themselves "What would I have done?" [End Page 441] Copyright © 2021 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois