A Line in the Dark
Published on 17. October 2017
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-7352-2742-2 (ISBN)
Description
Jessica Wong is the kind of girl nobody notices. She's also the kind of girl who sees everything. There's no one better at overlooking Jess than her best friend, Angie. Jess can live without Angie knowing her real feelings, just so long as they're best friends. But when Angie meets Margot, Jess recognises that things will never be the same. Worse still, Margot is one of the rare people who sees exactly how Jess feels about Angie. As Angie falls hard for Margot and gets caught up with Margot's wealthy friends, Jess's life begins to fall apart. If she isn't Angie's best friend, what is she? Then, at a party, surrounded by Margot's friends, Jess finally breaks down and starts revealing a few of the secrets she knows. Not everyone in the party can handle what Jess reveals, and before the sun rises, someone's dead. Dark, disturbing, and full of twists, A Line in the Dark is a cleverly crafted YA mystery that will delight readers craving a queer teenage girl antihero just as morally complicated as her male counterparts.
Reviews / Votes
"With an active focus on female friendships and relationships, A Line in the Dark is a twisty, dark psychological thriller that will leave you guessing til the very end. The story follows two friends down a path of dysfunction and murder as one of them, Chinese-American Jess tries to balance the expectations of her family, her fraught relationship with Angie, and her mounting sexual attraction for her. Lo offers some impressive storytelling, a chilling plot, and mean girls aplenty."-Teen Vogue"[A] riveting read... The story of tensions, romances and even violence between townies and prep school kids is well-trodden ground, but Lo makes it new and exciting by creating nuanced queer characters and giving them the chance to make their own terrible decisions."-NPR
"[A] heart-tugging story of a teenage girl who expresses herself in art in ways she can't quite do in real life - even as she tries to hold on to her best friend despite grappling with deeper feelings for her."-Vulture
"AAsh, Huntress, and Inheritance, A Line in the Dark. Lo instantly invites readers along, enticing them to stay up just a little bit later for the next big reveal, and supplies readers with one final twist that will take their breath away."-Lambda Literary
"[A] hauntingly captivating thriller."-Bustle
"This slender novel packs a punch."-Brightly
"A Line in the Dark marks Lo's foray into the contemporary genre, promising an intense read that should be at the top of your list."-Paste
"Malinda Lo's A Line in the Dark is soaked in menace. Each page in this brilliant thriller is deliciously unsettling-like Gone Girl meets Pretty Little Liars." -Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of And I Darken and Now I Rise.
"A beautifully written and compellingly well-observed psychological thriller." -Kate Elliott, New York Times bestselling author of Court of Fives and Cold Magic
"As soon as I finished, I had to read it again." -Justine Larbalestier, author of My Sister Rosa and Liar
?"Malinda Lo delivers an enthralling mystery full of twists, turns, dark heroics... and high school."-Shelf Awareness, starred review
? "Lo has delivered an intricate tapestry of narrative, woven in a labyrinthine pattern of secrets and colored with intersecting hues of Chinese-American identity, the dark intensity of relationships, and telltale stains of blood.... Mesmerizing."-Kirkus, starred review
? "The plot is fast-paced and will keep readers guessing until the end. The characters are well developed and feel authentic. It is refreshing to read about LGBT characters in a story where being LGBT is not the focus. Any young adult reader who loves psychological thrillers will be clamoring to get their hands on this captivating book."-SLC, starred review
"Drawing every character as complicit in unexpected and thought-provoking ways, Lo spins an addictive psychological mystery."-The Horn Book
"Dark, twisty, and unsettling, this book almost begs to be read in one sitting, and then instantly reread.... Verdict: A high-interest thriller with wide appeal recommended for all collections."-SLJ
? Kirkus Best Teen Book ?
? Vulture 10 Best YA Books ?
? Chicago Public Library's Best Teen Fiction ?
? Rainbow List ?
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
US School Grade: Ninth Grade and over, Interest Age: From 14 years
Dimensions
Height: 218 mm
Width: 147 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7352-2742-2 (9780735227422)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Malinda Lo
A Line in the Dark
E-Book
10/2017
1st Edition
Dutton Books for Young Readers
€9.99
Available for download
Person
Malinda Lo is the New York Times bestselling author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, winner of the National Book Award, the Stonewall Book Award, and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, as well as Michael L. Printz and Walter Dean Myers honors. Her debut novel Ash, a Sapphic retelling of Cinderella, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Lambda Literary Award. Malinda's short fiction and nonfiction has been published by The New York Times, NPR, Autostraddle, The Horn Book, and multiple anthologies. She lives in Massachusetts with her wife and their dog.