They Wish They Were Us meets The Queenâs Gambit in this âstunningâŚunforgettableâ (Publishers Weekly) thriller set in the world of competitive Scrabble, where a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages.
CATALYST
13 points
noun: a substance that speeds up a reaction without itself changing
When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friendâs death, itâs with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasnât the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It seems that even though Najwa is trying to change, sheâs not ready to give up Trina just yet.
But the same canât be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. Allâs fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trinaâs formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trinaâs death wasnât as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.
As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, itâs up to Najwa to find out whoâs behind these mysterious postsânot just to save Trinaâs memory, but to save herself.