Seven starred reviews!
âA riveting, meticulously plotted mystery with plenty of drama.â âPublishers Weekly (starred review)
A teen girlâs summer with her famous mother turns sinister in this gripping thriller inspired by a real-life Hollywood murder from Printz Honorâwinning and National Book Award finalist author Deb Calettiâperfect for fans of Courtney Summersâs Sadie.
Sydney Reilly has a bad feeling about going home to San Francisco before she even gets on the plane. How could she not? Her mother is Lila Shoreâthe Lila Shoreâa film star who prizes her beauty and male attention above all elseâŚcertainly above her daughter.
But Sydneyâs worries multiply when she discovers that Lila is involved with the dangerous Jake, an art dealer with shady connections. Jake loves all beautiful objects, and Sydney can feel his eyes on her whenever heâs around. And heâs not the only one. Sydney is starting to attract attentionâgood and badâwherever she goes: from sweet, handsome Nicco Ricci, from the unsettling construction worker next door, and even from Lila. Behaviors that once seemed like misunderstandings begin to feel like threats as the summer grows longer and hotter.
But real danger, crimes of passion, the kind of stuff where someone gets killedâit only mostly happens in the movies, Sydney is sure. Until the night something life-changing happens on the stairs that lead to the beach. A thrilling night that goes suddenly very wrong. When loyalties are called into question. And when Sydney learns a terrible truth: beautiful objects can break.