I Hope You're Listening

September 7, 2020
Ryan (Keep This to Yourself) blends queer romance, podcasts, and amateur sleuthing in a rousing and propulsive thriller. When Delia “Dee” Skinner was seven, her best friend Sibyl “Sibby” Carmichael was kidnapped during a game of hide-and-seek in the woods surrounding their suburban neighborhood. Now 17, Dee is the Seeker, the incognito voice behind popular missing-persons podcast Radio Silent. With the help of her
listening community, called the Laptop Detective Agency, Dee has solved many mysteries, yet refuses to investigate Sibby’s disappearance despite provocations from a needling journalist. When a young child goes missing from Dee’s childhood home, though, Dee’s anonymous world is upended as she searches for connections to Sibby’s case. Ryan nimbly moves from past to present as Dee interviews former neighbors and friends, leading her and love interest Sarah to a remote community with secrets to hide. Red herrings and brief Radio Silent transcripts add texture to the novel, while intriguing clues keep readers engrossed. Though resolutions are questionably serendipitous, Dee’s purposeful voice is engaging, and Ryan’s portrayal of the way a crime can create long-lasting impacts within a community is profound. Ages 13–up. Agent: Eric Smith, P.S. Literary.

September 1, 2020

Gr 9 Up-When seven-year-old Dee Skinner walked into the woods with her best friend, Sibby Carmichael, she almost turned back-the woods were too dark, too ominous. But Sibby always had a plan, so despite her apprehension, Dee followed her in. Ten years later, Dee is still trying to make people forget that she's the girl whose best friend vanished. The trauma of Sibby's disappearance has led Dee to start a secret podcast: Radio Silent. She curates and assembles information from missing-person cases, and her listeners take it from there. Thanks to Dee's efforts, several people have been located. Dee longs to tell the gorgeous black-haired new girl across the street who she is, but she's worked so hard to keep people from seeing her as that little girl in the woods that she finds it hard to open up. With all the missing-person cases Dee has tackled, the one that drives her-and the only one that she can't bring herself to talk about on her podcast-is Sibby's. That is, until another little girl in Dee's town goes missing. Well-developed characters populate the story, and the dialogue is smooth and natural. The solution to the mystery is satisfying but somewhat forced, but the journey to get there is compelling-readers will find themselves pulled through the pages. Sibby is blonde and Dee's appearance and ethnicity isn't described. VERDICT A page-turner of a mystery with a strong lead character who is a member of the LGBTQ community make this book a winner.-Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2020
A small town erupts when a child goes missing from the neighborhood in which a still-unsolved kidnapping occurred years earlier. It's been 10 years, but 17-year-old Dee is still haunted by the day her best friend, Sibby, was kidnapped as they played together in the woods. Anxious and risk-averse, she leads a double life as the anonymous host of a viral true-crime podcast that highlights missing person cases. Her ardent listeners, who call themselves the "Laptop Detective Agency," have successfully used tips she's received to solve several cases across North America, but Dee's never wanted to put Sibby--and herself--under their scrutiny. Navigating high school and her budding romance with edgy new girl Sarah is complicated enough. But after a young girl goes missing, the media makes a connection between the incidents, and an LDA tipster suggests that Sibby is still alive, Dee is forced to face the past. Dee's authentic, engaging perspective alternates between the day of Sibby's kidnapping and the present, layered between episode transcripts that demonstrate her strengths as a storyteller and investigator. In her unspecified location, a White default is assumed, although the podcast's current case centers Latinx and Black residents of Houston, with mention of the ways women of color are often let down by law enforcement. A compelling, satisfyingly queer mystery that explores human connection amid the pressures and pace of today's news cycle. (Mystery. 12-18)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 29, 2021
Grades 8-11 Delia Skinner is a junior in high school with a traumatic past and an unsure future. As a child, she was left behind when her friend Sibyl was kidnapped from their tree fort. In the decade since, Dee has built the strength to host a podcast dedicated to finding others who have gone missing; on the podcast, Radio Silent, she becomes the Seeker, and her fans are her Laptop Detective Agency. Her quest to work through her past trauma and navigate the shifting landscape of high school, all while working in secret to save lives, is a tough one. It's made even more difficult when a child with eerie ties to the cold case goes missing. As figures from her past rotate back into view, she must make difficult decisions: Will she sacrifice her own privacy to help another family? Will she have to relive her own trauma to uncover long-hidden secrets? Award-winning Ryan, whose books have appeared on the ALA Rainbow List, has created a thrilling mystery for fans of Courtney Summers and Nancy Drew.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.