Two Perfect Lies

Lightning-quick pacing results in rapidly building, unrelenting suspense in this deftly crafted thriller of friendship, betrayal, murder, and romance by Richards (49 Miles Alone). Seventeen months before this book’s start, Ohio high school junior Clara Cutler is arrested for breaking and entering. If it wasn’t for her 17-year-old best friend Lily Dalton, Clara would be doomed to life as a social pariah. As “that rare triple-crown student with the right grades, right attitude, and right social group,” though, Lily commands respect and authority wherever she goes. But when Clara finds a list of names among Lily’s belongings—including corresponding license plate numbers and recipes for explosives—Clara worries that Lily is up to something sinister. Sudden radio silence from Lily prompts Clara to seek help from school administrators, but before she can relay what she found, Clara is arrested—and she learns that Lily is framing her for attempted murder. As Clara struggles to prove her innocence, she’s repeatedly thwarted by Lily. While some character motivations are never made clear, the novel’s increasingly tense ambiance ensnares readers’ attention, keeping the audience on the edges of their seats and surprising at every turn. Clara and Lily are white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Suzie Towsend, New Leaf Literary. (Mar.)