Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

This week's pick is Lie by Caroline Bock, coming August 30 from St. Martin's Griffin.

Summary: A gripping and incredibly important story about a tight-knit town torn apart by a vicious hate crime.  
Everybody knows, nobody’s talking… Seventeen year-old Skylar Thompson is being questioned by the police.  Her boyfriend Jimmy stands accused of brutally assaulting two young El Salvadoran immigrants from a neighboring town, and she's the prime witness.  Skylar is keeping quiet about what she's seen, but how long can she keep it up?  Jimmy was her savior.  When her mother died, he was the only person who made her feel safe, protected from the world.  But when she begins to appreciate the enormity of what has happened, especially when Carlos Cortez, the victim's brother, steps up to demand justice, she starts to have second thoughts about protecting him.  Jimmy's accomplice, Sean, is facing his own moral quandary. He's out on bail and has been offered a plea in exchange for testifying against Jimmy.  Sean must decide whether or not to turn on his friend in order to save himself.  But most importantly, both must figure out why they followed someone like Jimmy—someone who bullied people and advocated violence against others—in the first place.   


My Thoughts: I really love that this one is set against a hate crime in a small town, yet has so many more layers and aspects to it. From the different personal sides to the overall interwoven story, this one just sounds absolutely stunning and gripping. I want to know more about Jimmy, why he is like he is and if he can realize the horrors of it. I want to know what Sean chooses and why. I want to see what Skylar goes through, and I think her struggle especially, watching Jimmy go through all this and seeing the good in him overlapping all the rest will just be absolutely poignant. And this cover is so simple, almost innocent, yet the font itself hints at the darker, rougher stuff. The two have a nice back and forth, and it makes me wonder more about this girl staring down, and what kind of things she's endured.