Tell Me When You Feel Something

by Vicki Grant

Overview

The perfect after-school job turns deadly for teens working as "simulated patients" at the local med school. Everyone has something to hide and no one is safe in this contemporary YA thriller that exposes the dark reality of #MeToo in the world of medicine, for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.

It seemed like a cool part-time program -- being a "simulated" patient for med school students to practice on. But now vivacious, charismatic Viv lies in a very real coma. Cellphone footage just leads to more questions. What really happened? Other kids suspect it was not an intentional overdose -- but each has a reason why they can't tell the truth.
Through intertwining and conflicting narratives, a twisted story unfolds of trust betrayed as we sift through the seemingly innocent events leading up to the tragic night. Perhaps simulated patients aren't the only people pretending to be something they're not . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735270091
Publisher:	Tundra Book Group
Publication date:	06/15/2021
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	1,060,453
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	HL560L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Vicki Grant is the author of seventeen books including 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You (which has sold to seventeen countries and has been optioned for film), The Puppet Wrangler, Quid Pro Quo, Dead-End Job and Not Suitable for Family Viewing. Her books have consistently garnered her recognition from the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association and the Canadian Children's Book Centre. Quid Pro Quo was shortlisted for an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America and was included as a "best book" by The New York Public Library, Bank Street College, and The Canadian Children's Book Centre, and won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime fiction in Canada.

Editorial Reviews

One of CCBC’s Best Books for Kids and Teens, Fall 2021 — Starred Pick

"An important representation of the pressure that teenagers can feel and the damaging coping habits that they can use to maintain a semblance of normalcy." —CM: Canadian Review of Materials

“A thriller about a 17-year-old whose life falls through the cracks.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

06/01/2021

Gr 9 Up—No one knows why Viv—17, blonde, rich, smart, perfect—took a pill at a party and ended up in a coma, but everyone knows more than they're letting on. Davida thinks Viv was straitlaced, Stu knows she wasn't, and Tim is keeping his lips suspiciously zipped. And for the rest of the volunteers and staff at the local medical school's Simulated Patient Program, the line blurs between real and make-believe pain. Through time-jumping multiple-POV chapters, Grant unfurls the uncanny backdrop of the patient program, a realistically flawed mostly white cast, and a timely commentary on the varied forms of abuses of power conducted by adults on teenagers. Despite momentum from interspersed police emails and interviews and an emotionally charged final third, answers revealed early on and the lack of a ticking clock lead to a slow pace, low tension, and surprisingly reliable narrators. Newer thriller readers may find it a good introduction, but entrenched fans will be drawn to titles with higher stakes. Themes of sexual assault, gaslighting, alcohol abuse, and pedophilia are explored in detail. VERDICT An uneven YA thriller in the vein of Karen M. McManus's One of Us Is Lying, with a unique setting as its main draw.—Madeline Newquist, Center for Fiction, Brooklyn, NY

School Library Journal

2021-04-14
A thriller about a 17-year-old whose life falls through the cracks.

Everybody believes that Vivienne Braithwaite has a perfect life: She’s a smart, gorgeous, charismatic high schooler who works an after-school gig as a simulated patient for medical school students to practice on. With Jack, the most perfect boyfriend ever, by her side, nothing should stop her. But now Viv lies in a coma fighting for her life, the result of taking opioids at a party—and no one understands how she got there, not even her closest friends, Davida and Tim. The narrative alternates between Viv’s point of view leading up to the party that changes everything and Davida’s and Tim’s perspectives in the aftermath. Excerpts from police interviews are peppered throughout as the mystery unfolds and the book becomes a study of a girl’s real life behind her facade of happiness and perfection. Unfortunately, neither Davida nor Tim are particularly vivid characters despite sharing narratorial duties, and it’s hard to engage with their seemingly doomed romance. However, Viv’s in-depth chapters are intense, as she struggles with multiple traumas, including a difficult home life, the pressures of high expectations, her alcohol abuse, and more. Frustratingly, the book at times focuses more on thrills rather than examining very real, very topical issues of power dynamics and misplaced trust raised by the plot. Most characters are White; Jack is Black.

An uneven thriller that fails to engage deeply with social issues it raises. (Thriller. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews