Codebreaker

When 17-year-old Mia Hayes finds her parents in their living room with a bald man in a black suit, she doesn’t anticipate that the encounter will end with her mother dead and her father missing. Now on her own, the teen struggles to understand what happened and how her father is involved. Three weeks later, attending a protest in D.C., she meets cute, funny Logan, 18. The two plan a date for that night, but Mia is abducted shortly after Logan leaves the protest. Upon arriving at an undisclosed location, Mia is interrogated by a woman called Mary Surratt, who questions Mia about something her father is purported to have stolen. Though Mary releases her, Mia knows that the only way to uncover the truth about her father is to follow a series of clues he left behind. Clever codes, puzzles, and ciphers form the base of this intricately designed codebreaker mystery that’s enlivened by page-turning action and Mia and Logan’s sharp banter and magnetic chemistry. A beginning author’s note instructs readers on how to participate in the codebreaking and investigating alongside Mia, injecting a playful interactive element to Martel’s propulsive debut novel. Mia has olive skin. Ages 13–up. (July)