The Truth Beneath The Lies

The Truth Beneath The Lies

YA chiller
Well today we're transitioning from mythical monsters from other
dimensions to the more prosaic but no less terrifying monsters in
human form.
"He picks up after two rings. 'Good morning, sweetheart,' he
sings. 'Cutting it a little close today, aren't we?' Hearing his
voice brings it all back. The reason Mom and I left. The reason I'm
far away in nowhere. The reason I'm alive. For now."
Nowhere is San Justo, a tiny, dusty Texas town. Betsy, one of
the two protagonists of Amanda Searcy's The Truth Beneath The Lies, is
about to enroll in San Justo High. Somehow it's her fault that she
and her mother have had to move. Her mother's perfectly happy with
her new home, new job, and new friends. She has no way of knowing
about the black phone under Betsy's bed, a phone on which Betsy will
recurve calls at random times. If she doesn't answer one within
twenty-four hours she may not live to see the next morning.
"Home is a fifteen minute walk from No Limit Foods. In the
daylight, you can see who lurks behind the trees. You can see the
trash and syringes discarded in the wild grass along the sidewalk. In
the dark, only broken glass glitters under the weak streetlights."
Kayla, Searcy's other narrator, lives for the day she'll be able
to escape Bluebird Estates, her deteriorating housing project, and her
life there. She sees higher education as the way out. Her days are
an exhausting round of AP high school classes, dance team performing,
working a late shift at a discount food store, and a perilous walk
home (A killer of young girls is on the loose) to start her homework
in the middle of the night.
But sometimes the most carefully followed plans can be derailed.
Betsy and Kayla tell their stories in alternating chapters. For
each of them the horrors they face mount up. Why are they in the same
book? What will happen if their lives meet up?
There's only one way to find out. Just don't read the book on a
night you'll be home alone.
Searcy's work is like Stephen King's only for a YA audience.
The horror lies in the blackness that can take root in the human soul
and the struggle to defeat that darkness.
But you don't have to take my word for the awesomeness of The
Truth Beneath The Lies. Karen McManus, who has penned some of the
most excellent YA chillers in print, says: "A smart, suspenseful, and
unpredictable thriller that will keep readers turning pages until
every last lie is revealed."
BTW, if I'm not cranking the chiller reviews out fast enough for
our lead up to Halloween chillfest, Searcy's Watch You Burn and any of
McManus' offerings, all of which I've previously reviewed, are truly
spooktacular.
On a purrrsonal note, at UMaine we've completed one third of fall
semester, still on campus. Thank goodness! From what I'm seeing
people are being good about masking and vaccinating. Wednesday there
is going to be a vaccine booster clinic which I plan to attend. Not
only am I over sixty-five, but I deal with the public big time.
Wells, which has become comfort food central, has constantly growing
numbers of student clients. Doing tables I can have contact with
close to eight hundred in a day. (Jules)
If you haven't gotten your vaccine please do. Vaccines aren't just
for cats and dogs anymore. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to all the other Black Bears who are
acting responsibly and the people who are about to bring us the
booster clinic.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


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