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Young Adult Fiction Thrillers & Suspense

If You're Lucky

by (author) Yvonne Prinz

Publisher
Algonquin Books
Initial publish date
Oct 2015
Category
Thrillers & Suspense, Mental Illness, Siblings
Recommended Age
14 to 18
Recommended Grade
10 to 12
Recommended Reading age
14 to 18
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781616204631
    Publish Date
    Oct 2015
    List Price
    $23.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781616206390
    Publish Date
    Sep 2016
    List Price
    $13.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

“A hold-on-to-your-seat thriller.” —Quill & Quire
When Georgia’s brother drowns while surfing halfway around the world in Australia, she refuses to believe that Lucky’s death was just bad luck. Then a stranger named Fin arrives in False Bay claiming to have been Lucky’s best friend. Soon Fin is working for Lucky’s father, charming Lucky’s mother, dating Lucky’s girlfriend. Georgia begins to wonder: Did Fin murder her brother in order to take over his whole life?
To uncover the truth about Lucky’s death, Georgia secretly stops taking the medication that keeps away the voices in her head. But as her suspicion grows, her mental state becomes more and more precarious. Is Georgia’s mind playing tricks on her, or is the entire town walking into the arms of a killer who has everyone but her fooled?

About the author

YVONNE PRINZ is the author of several books, including the Clare series and The Vinyl Princess, which won the California Library Association’s John and Patricia Beatty Award, was shortlisted for an Arthur Ellis Award for Crime Fiction and was named to Resource Links’ Year’s Best of 2010 list. A Canadian living in San Francisco, she is the co-founder of Amoeba Music, the world’s largest independent music store.

Yvonne Prinz's profile page

Editorial Reviews

“Smart, sarcastic, and wickedly insightful, If You're Lucky is a remarkable page-turner. The tense coils of its dangerously tightening clock spring keep readers wondering, twist by twist, if Georgia's universe will simply burst apart.” —Andrew Smith, author of Grasshopper Jungle

“A solid page turner.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A hold-on-to-your-seat thriller . . . Prinz does an excellent job building suspense and bending reality as Georgia, haunted by ghosts and troubling dreams, slowly uncovers the truth. . . . As she tries to make sense of what is happening, Georgia’s courage in the face of isolation from the people around her is poignant. Prinz has created a memorable character who must battle her demons, inside and out.”—Quill Quire

“Georgia’s suspicious mind is a fascinating place to spend time . . . this moody mystery will keep readers hooked.”Publishers Weekly

“Well-developed characters, a charming ocean-front oyster village, and a remarkable expose into mental illness make for an unusual. . . YA murder mystery.”—Booklist

“The setting, with its overcast feel and chill in the air, is an apt metaphor for Georgia’s state of mind. The protagonist ranks among the best of unreliable narrators in YA literature, leaving readers uncertain, confused, and utterly absorbed. . . Give this dark, broody novel to psychological drama fans and teens who enjoy books by Alex Flinn, David Klass, Pete Hautman, and Gail Gile.”—School Library Journal

“Harrowing...a perfectly pitched blossoming thriller.” Lewis Buzbee, author of The Haunting of Charles Dickens

If You’re Lucky is a perfectly calibrated mystery that’s heart-racing, emotionally precise and spellbindingly good. Prinz writes with true velocity and in this book of secrets every page that turns cranks up the tension and every sentence pulls the suspense tighter. The truth that’s lurking in False Bay is gripping and disturbing and well worth the foggy ride into the darkness.” —Stereo Embers Magazine

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