01/04/2021
Nineteen-year-old Lo Denham’s name isn’t short for lonely, but it could be: after her parents died in a car accident that scarred Lo and left her near death, her adored older sister Bea joined the Unity Project, an insular Upstate New York religious group that’s constantly fighting accusations of culthood. Lo longs to be a writer, but though she’s landed a job at a Vice-like magazine, also upstate, she’s stuck as its editor’s assistant. When she witnesses a suicide that turns out to have links to the Unity Project, she embarks on an investigation of the secretive, seemingly well-meaning group and her sister’s whereabouts. By turns driven, vulnerable, and impulsive, Lo gets closer and closer to the Project’s charismatic, damaged leader, risking everything to find the truth. Alternating Lo and Bea’s viewpoints and moving around in time, Summers (Sadie) makes effective use of each character’s limited knowledge, creating a twisty plot that’s full of hooks. Ages 13–up. Agent: Faye Bender, the Book Group. (Feb.)
"The narrators beautifully build suspense, and the intensity never falters. This is one of those compelling audiobooks that will have listeners driving around or walking an extra block just so they can listen longer." School Library Journal, starred review
"[A] deeply disconcerting investigative thriller that seems unassuming but worms under the skin and into the mind." Booklist (Starred Review)
"A powerful, suspenseful, and heartbreaking thriller about identity, sisterhood, and belonging." Kirkus (Starred Review)
★ 11/01/2020
Gr 9 Up—A young woman's determination to reveal the truth behind an apparent cult exposes a more complicated look at doubt and belief than she could have imagined. Lo Denham barely survived the car accident that killed her parents. Her sister, Bea, credits her miraculous recovery to Lev Warren, leader of the Unity Project, an outwardly innocuous religious group that performs acts of service and community outreach. Bea gives up everything to join them. Years after being abandoned by her sister, Lo—who works as an assistant at an investigative magazine—follows in her path, desperate to uncover the truth behind the Project and to save her sister. With promises of atonement, redemption, and salvation, Lev's message begins to penetrate Lo's skepticism—how far will she go to get the real story? And once she discovers it, can she bear what it may reveal? Masterfully written and pulling no punches, the narrative moves back and forth in time, showing events from both Bea and Lo's perspectives. Summers creates and sustains almost unbearable tension, exploring sacrifice, loss, forgiveness, miracles, surrender, grief, and lies. The unflinching look at Bea and Lo's desperation is devastating, especially as both chase healing and salvation to counteract emptiness and loss. Readers will question the truth and everyone's motivations in this world full of manipulation and mind games. Secondary characters are of various races; Bea and Lo are described only as having brown hair. VERDICT A gripping, flawless psychological thriller ready to leave readers shattered.—Amanda MacGregor, Parkview Elem. Sch., Rosemount, MN
This audiobook is essential listening. Narrators Therese Plummer and Emily Shaffer shine as Lo and Bea Denham, two teenage sisters whose lives are upended when their parents are killed in a car accident. The younger sister, Lo, injured in the accident, is sent to live with her reclusive aunt. The older sister, Bea—whose survival guilt has left her particularly vulnerable—falls prey to the leader of a religious cult. The story is told through dual points of view. Shaffer’s take on Bea offers a chilling portrayal of a teen who slowly unravels as the cult’s abuse escalates. In contrast, Schaffer’s grief-and-rage-filled portrayal of Lo has listeners rooting for the abandoned younger sister to pry her sibling away from the dangerous cult. G.P. 2022 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
★ 2020-11-12
“Let go of all you know you are.”
Lo Denham is a budding journalist whose sister, Bea, joined the Unity Project after the car accident that killed their parents and left Lo with physical and emotional scars. Lo is adamant that the Project—ostensibly a community outreach and social movement—is a cult since she has not been able to see Bea since she joined. An opportunity to interview its charismatic leader, Lev Warren, leads Lo to question everything she thinks she knows about Bea, the Project, and herself. Bea, however, was lured in by Warren’s powerful, welcoming teachings after witnessing something that could only be called a miracle. The novel is told in different timelines, presenting the two sisters’ perspectives in Summers’ hallmark pull-no-punches writing style that centers vulnerable girls and their experiences of the world. The disconnect between what readers suspect is happening, given the subtle clues peppered throughout, and what its main characters believe reality to be creates an almost unbearable level of suspense, maintained until the very final moments of the story when the truth is finally unveiled. The beauty of the story lies in its focus on the downtrodden, the vulnerable, and the earnest, expressed with an enormous amount of empathy. The sisters are White; there is diversity in the supporting cast.
A powerful, suspenseful, and heartbreaking thriller about identity, sisterhood, and belonging. (Thriller. 14-adult)