How did I get the book? Received from publisher in exchange for an honest review
Genre: Contemporary / Crime Mystery / Thriller
Synopsis: From the author of CHASING THE DARK comes a thrilling young teen crime mystery, guaranteed to keep you guessing until the very end.
Not long after Aliya’s family escapes Afghanistan for Britain, her brother is accused of a bomb attack. Aliya is sure of his innocence, but when plumber’s son Dan finds a gun in their bathroom, what’s she to think?
Dan has his own reasons for staying silent: he’s worried the gun might have something to do with his dad. Thrown together by chance, they set out to uncover a tangled and twisted truth.
200words (or less) review: I didn’t want to put this book down from the moment I began reading chapter one. Sadly I started If You Were Me at lunchtime so I had to go back to work but I raced home and didn’t move from my sofa all night.
The story is narrated in alternating chapters by Aliya and Dan, they each have clear and distinct voices so while it’s nice that the publisher’s picked different fonts to make it obvious the narrator had changed I don’t think it was necessary.
I was pretty taken by Aliya from the start; she’s so determined to help her brother despite everything that is stacked against her. Dan took a little longer but I think that’s because I wanted him to be a certain way when actually Sam Hepburn makes him much more realistic.
If You Were Me is intense and it’s pretty easy to get completely immersed in Aliya and Dan’s story.
Recommend it?
Absolutely