What Kind of Paradise

Brown (I’ll Be You) wrestles with family, morality, and technology’s effects on both in this hypnotic coming-of-age story. Teenage Jane has grown up tech-free with her father in the woods of Montana. She doesn’t remember much from before, when her mother was alive and the family lived together in the Bay Area, but Jane is curious about her past and the secrets her paranoid father is obviously hiding from her. When Jane’s dad comes home from one of his habitual and mysterious trips, he brings with him a laptop, a modem, and a book on coding. Jane can’t help but fall under the internet’s spell, but after she helps her father set up a website to spread his pro-Luddite message, he revokes her access. Jane rebels by forcing her way into his latest trip, only to learn that her father has been engaged in criminal activity—and she’s just become his accomplice. Panicked but armed with a handful of clues, Jane returns to California on her own to uncover the truth about her past. From the opening pages, Brown sets the suspense at a tantalizing slow boil, and Jane is a winningly well-shaded protagonist, but most of the plot’s big reveals are predictable. Still, mystery readers drawn to character-driven stories will find much to like. Agent: Susan Golomb, Writers House. (June)