Trust Me, I’m Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Trust Me, I’m Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer Karen Coats Summer, Mary Elizabeth Trust Me, I’m Lying. Delacorte, 2014 328p Library ed. ISBN 978-0-375-99151-6 $20.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-385-74406-5 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-385-38288-5 $10.99 R Gr. 7–10 Julep Dupree ran her first con when she was ten, and since then she’s been adept at the family business of grifting. When the teenager comes home one night to find her apartment trashed and her father missing, she figures her father has gotten in over his head, and she knows that she has to find him herself rather than go to the police. Luckily, she’s got some favors to call in from little jobs she has undertaken at her private school, and with the help of her computer-savvy partner, Sam, she starts tracking down obscure clues that her father has left her in a scavenger-hunt style. Her quest has also attracted the attention of Tyler Richland, the mind-erasingly handsome son of a senator. Tyler wants to help, Sam wants to help, the new barista at the local coffee shop wants to help, a dangerous-looking woman in a black Chevelle wants to help, but whom can Julep trust? What has her father gotten himself into, and how can she protect her friends while getting him back? This well-paced, well-plotted mystery has its share of barely plausible moments, but for the most part, the suspension of disbelief holds as Julep navigates between suspicious principals and threatening mobsters while trying to sort out her confused feelings about Tyler and Sam. Her final con is a masterpiece of leverage, but a shocking event prevents any fist-pumping triumph. Readers who enjoy Jaffe’s Bad Kitty (BCCB 4/06) and Giles’ Fake ID (BCCB 3/14) will want to pick this up. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois