Three years ago, Grace Blakely witnessed her mother's murder, but no one else seems willing to even acknowledge that it was a homicide, so this daredevil teenager decided that she will have to solve the killing herself. It doesn't take long for Grace to realize that none of her Embassy Row connections will help a jot; in fact, her powerful ambassador grandfather and his cohorts badly want her to stop ruffling feathers and return to her place as a just another pretty face at the government receptions. An intriguing new series by the author of the Gallagher Girls series.
11/17/2014
Nobody believes that Grace saw a scarred man shoot her mother three years ago, insisting that she died in an accidental fire. Now, after being hospitalized and treated like she is “crazy,” 16-year-old Grace is getting a fresh start with her grandfather, the American ambassador to a fictional European country called Adria. But when the troubled and impulsive teen sees the scarred man in Adria and overhears him threatening another murder, she and her Embassy Row friends—Rosie, a former gymnast; Megan, a genius and hacker; and loyal Noah—try to stop him from striking again. This first book in the Embassy Row series from Gallagher Girls author Carter has plenty of promise, including clever characters, an underground tunnel system, and Grace’s hard-boiled narration (“whatever chance I had for normal disappeared three years ago”). The characters and setting are somewhat underdeveloped, and plotting can be farfetched, including Grace’s admission that she never wondered why someone would kill her mother. Even so, Carter knows how to construct a gripping thriller, and she leaves enough unanswered questions to keep readers eager for the next book. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency. (Jan.)
Praise for the Heist Society series:
"Fast-paced and popcorn-ready!" —Publishers Weekly
"With razor-sharp dialogue, twists and tight squeezes galore, and one quick-thinking heroine, Carter doesn’t miss a step as she continues to entertain her numerous fans" —Booklist
"Daring, delicious, but filled with a sense of purpose, Heist Society mixes classic elements of the adolescent bildungsroman into a high-stakes escapade." —School Library Journal
Praise for the Gallagher Girls series:
* "Nearly three hundred pages of perfection." —VOYA, starred review
"Humorous, fast-paced fun." —School Library Journal
"Ally Carter’s light and engaging writing style will appeal to many young female readers looking for an adventure story about girls who are not afraid to fight their own battles." —Children’s Literature
2014-11-04
A 16-year-old Army brat, unpleasantly in the public eye, copes with grief over her dead mother and fears for her own mental health.In this new series by the author of the Gallagher Girls books, Grace is sent to live with her grandfather, the United States ambassador to Adria. Trouble-prone Grace causes an international incident on her very first day. Besides, everybody in Adria thinks she's crazy; Grace has spent the last three years insisting she saw her mother murdered by a gruesomely scarred man, though all the evidence says it was an accident. Grace doubts herself when she sees evidence of sinister doings in Adria: conspirators in the palace, secret tunnels and—worst of all—the Scarred Man walking Adria's corridors of power. Though some of the local kids try to help, Grace hates being surrounded by the competent and attractive multinational kids of Embassy Row while she's heavily medicated, prone to self-harm, and too pale and blonde to be pretty. Grace's adventure waffles among spy thriller, an examination of grief and an exploration of mental illness. It rockets wildly to and fro; the setup for the inevitable second volume doesn't follow even slightly naturally from the mystery's conclusion. Still, the mix-and-match bucket of tropes creates a not-entirely-infelicitous goofy whole: Hallucinations, mean girls and kidnappings abound. Will appeal not only to psychological-thriller fans, but to those who want a little glamour, some A-list social politics and a bit of high school nastiness mixed in with their suspense. (Thriller. 12-14)
