If you enjoyed the suspense of Deposing Nathan, you should read All Eyes on Us OR "If you don't do what I say, blood will spill"

Title: All Eyes on Us

Author: Kit Frick


LGBTQ+ Representation: Two lesbian characters


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Amanda enjoys dating Carter, while keeping her mother's alcoholism and her family's debt a secret. Amanda pretends not to know that Carter is also dating Rosalie--who is using Carter so her parents won't find out about her girlfriend and send her back to conversion therapy. One day, Amanda and Rosalie both get threatening text messages. Can they figure out who is sending the messages before the sender gets violent?


What I think (in 250 words or fewer): If I had started reading this book in the bathtub, I would have frozen because I would not have been able to get out until I was finished! As it was, I stayed up entirely too late reading it because it was impossible for me to put it down.

Just realized I wrote the same about Deposing Nathan. What can I say? True about both books.


Anyway, so much to like about All Eyes on Us:

1. The villain is cleverly done. In hindsight, it's obvious, but I had no clue until the very end of the book. Bravo!
     
2. I didn't really like either of the main female characters at first, but I was rooting for them by the end.
     
3. As soon as I thought I'd figured out some "bad guys," the suspects became bubbling criminal goons, as high school boys would be in that situation.
      
4. Often I have to suspend my disbelief when reading suspenseful novels because the heroes and villains have unrealistic bursts of power, luck, and strength. Not the case in this book--everything was believable, with the exception of Amanda finding Carter always SO FLAWLESS, but she wasn't always a reliable narrator so that worked for me.
      
5. The suspenseful ending leads to extreme GIRL POWER. Both girls actually benefit from the trauma.
     
6. Bonus supportive adult.
       
7. I figured the lesbian relationship would be doomed from the start, but--meh, I'm spoiling a little bit, but the relationship is NOT doomed. And thank goodness for that; Rosalie deserves all the happiness.

This book is too new to be on The Rainbow Books list--watch this space!


My final takeaway (in 75 words or fewer): Do you like thrillers? Realistically suspenseful but not TOO bloody and violent? Do you want to stay up too late reading and have weird nightmares that interfere with your adult responsibilities? Observe:

Trigger warnings for violence and flashbacks of conversion therapy, but if those do not bother you too much, definitely read this book. Just make sure you have no adult responsibilities that you must get done the night you start reading.


Memorable quotes/passages from the book:

• "But it's easier out here, alone. It's midnight, and for a moment, I don't have to pretend. Out here, the world is perfectly still" (pg. 26).
• "Something inky dark swirls at the edges of my vision, causing me to pitch forward and clutch at the edge of my desk. The pads of my fingers go white against the wood" (pg. 60).
• "You may be the prettiest girl in school, but things are going to get real ugly if you don't start listening to me" (pg. 99).
• "If you don't do what I say, blood will spill" (pg. 296).

Other reviews: Kirkus and Downright Dystopian


**********

This book is available here: https://library.greensboro-nc.gov/

Learn more about the Rainbow Book List here: http://www.ala.org/rt/glbtrt