Not Alone by Frederic Martin - OPTIONAL

Not Alone by Frederic Martin, 300 pages. NthSense Books, 2020. $11.

Language: R (152 swears, 9 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

On her way to yet another foster home, 14yo Blue doesn’t hold much hope that this one will be any better. She always finds some way to mess everything up -- but then she starts to make friends. Battling with herself, Blue fights against the hope growing inside her because she knows that her world will fall apart again. And she was right.

The first half of the book is set up, and it reads pretty slow and occasionally choppy. However, the second half of the book is a blur of flipping pages. I loved changing perspectives to see how everyone was putting pieces together to find the antagonist, and I found the character Martin wrote to make the villain to be oddly fascinating -- especially since the villain is smart and can’t be foiled by an unrealistic, accidentally forgotten clue that leads to an easy downfall. I look forward to the sequels promised as Blue, her friend Will, and the villain continue to cross paths. The mature content rating is for drug dealing, drug overdose, and mentions of rape; the violence rating is for domestic abuse, kidnapping, gun violence, and murder.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen