Find Me

September 16, 2013
Here are some things Wick Tate knows: how to hack into almost any system; that, between her mother’s suicide and her abusive drug-dealing father, she’s responsible for keeping her sister, Lily, safe; and that no matter how loving their new foster parents seem, she can’t trust them or anyone else. Wick isn’t even sure she can trust herself—what if she’s too much like her father? Although Wick and Lily now have nice clothes and a stable living environment, the cop looking for their father keeps coming around, and their father’s partner can still force Wick to work for him. Then there are the memories churned up when a childhood friend kills herself, and her diary ends up in Wick’s hands. While Wick’s fears and suspicions initially seem overwrought, they grow to become entirely reasonable as she’s forced to make some very adult decisions. Throw in Wick’s burgeoning romance with classmate Griff and a genuinely suspenseful ending, and Bernard’s debut is effective as both high-intensity action novel and character study, and ripe for a sequel. Ages 13–up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary.

October 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-Tessa Waye was Wicket Tate's best friend until five years ago when Wick's drug-dealing father drove them apart. When Tessa commits suicide and her diary is left on the teen's front steps, Wick suspects there might be a dark reason she jumped to her death. Wick and her sister, Lily, are now free of their criminal father, living a shiny new life on the ritzy side of town with their foster parents. But Wick resists the temptation to immerse herself in this white-picket-fence lifestyle. She's always ready to run, or hide, because she fears her father will come back for them. Wick, an untrusting outcast, is an antiheroine to root for. Distraught by Tessa's fate and her own past, she sets out to use her hacking skills to track down the man responsible for her ex-friend's death. She is all too aware of her talent but woefully ignorant of her redeeming qualities that cause Griff, a fellow hacker, to fall in love with her. Bernard's debut is notable for its readability, genre-crossing blend of thrills and romance, and its something-for-everyone qualities.-Jamie-Lee Schombs, Loyola School, New York City

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2013
Wicket Tate kicks into high gear with her hacking skills when her little sister is threatened following another girl's suicide. Wick and Lily's father is an abuser and a criminal, and it's been up to Wick to protect the naive Lily ever since their mother jumped to her death; well-to-do foster parents Bren and Todd have given the girls a second chance, but Wick is still in survival mode. Classmate Tessa's death becomes personal when Wick finds a copy of Tessa's diary on her front porch in the middle of the night. Carson, the cop who's still looking for her dad, and Griff, an attractive fellow student, are pulled into the plot, along with Tessa's parents and sister. It's clear from the diary that Tessa was in an abusive relationship with an older man, but how to identify him and why there are threats against Lily remain murky. Wick's hacking activities are integral to the plot but are not as fully fleshed out as they should be, resulting in some telling rather than showing, distancing readers. Romance blossoms between Griff and Wick despite her resistance, adding a vulnerability to Wick's tough-cookie persona. The pace is so swift that there's no time for readers to examine minor inconsistencies or to wonder why such a smart hacker would sometimes give up so easily. A thriller chiller with some hot moments. (Suspense. 12-16)

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October 15, 2013
Grades 9-12 When a dead girl's diary is left on 16-year-old Wick's doorstep, she decides to use her skills as a hacker to investigate. It turns out that the girl committed suicide after her involvement with a pedophile, whose attentions drove her to the fatal act. Things then get personal when it appears that Wick's younger sister, Lily, is the pedophile's next target. Meanwhile, Wick's brutal, drug-dealing father, who is on the run from police, appears and is determined to involve his daughter in a computer scam. How will Wick handle all of this? Will her growing friendship with her computer lab partner, Griff, help? Yes, there is a lot going on in Bernard's suspenseful first novel. Although the subplot about Wick's father veers dangerously close to the gratuitous, Bernard still manages to keep a successful handle on her disparate story lines, maintaining the fast-paced, nail-biting action of this compulsively readable mystery, which will have readers on the edge of their seats. Clearly, Bernard's debut is an auspicious one that will leave readers hungry for more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2014
Computer-hacking foster girl Wick, sixteen, has been dealt a tough hand, but when an old friend commits suicide and her diary ends up on Wick's front porch, the stakes are raised. Haunted by the written words "Find Me," Wick sets out to discover the truth behind Tessa Waye's death. Debut novelist Bernard's thriller is fast paced, intense, and fraught with tension.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)