Publishers Weekly
10/09/2023
Seventeen-year-old Tia Dante has a side hustle as an immersionist; with her classmates’ consent, she temporarily transfers her consciousness to take over their bodies by utilizing her head-hopping ability. She uses this under-wraps skill to help her schoolmates accomplish things that they’re often too afraid to do on their own, such as confront bullies or come out to their loved ones. While she’s assisting her latest client, however, someone head-hops into her abandoned body and murders the town’s district attorney. With the aid of her ex-boyfriend Nash and her bestie Val, Tia must find the true killer before she’s convicted of a crime she didn’t commit, and as the trio’s investigation leads them into increasingly dangerous situations, Tia navigates reemerging feelings for Nash. Landers (Lumara) imbues Tia’s first-person perspective with wit and brash humor reminiscent of Veronica Mars. Thriller elements involving international mobs and secret supernatural organizations, as well as weighty themes surrounding criminal injustice, propel this jam-packed roller coaster to a climactic finish. Nash is described as having dark skin; most other characters read as white. Ages 12–up. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency. (Dec.)
Kirkus Reviews
2023-09-09
Body-swapping can be a neat side hustle—until it gets you framed for murder.
With consent, 17-year-old Tia Dante can head-hop, or take over another person’s body, leaving her own temporarily uninhabited. Tia makes good money as an immersionist, using her power to carry out her clients’ nerve-wracking errands, like breaking up, coming out, or fighting back against bullies. For Tia, it’s all fun, games, and escaping her many food allergies until someone steals her own body and uses it to kill a district attorney. In Tia’s subsequent quest to clear her name, her cheeky one-liners (“Pies before guys,” “Deal with it like a normal person and day drink”) give the brisk narration a Veronica Mars–like appeal. While there is some mention of serious contemporary issues like criminal injustice, child abuse, and eating disorders, the story omits deeper systemic observations. Although Tia’s afraid of the treatment she might receive as a member of a supernatural minority, in the end, her interactions with the police do not bear these fears out. A brief, charged flirtation with Blade Romanovitch, the son of a prominent Russian gangster, teases further danger but doesn’t add much to the story. The murder case often takes a back seat to the second-chance romance between Tia and her ex-boyfriend, Nash Brock, but this storyline does provide a sweet coda. Most characters read white; Nash has dark skin.
A satisfactorily escapist page-turner enhanced by its sarcastic humor. (Paranormal thriller. 13-18)
