That's Not My Name

October 15, 2023
A girl with amnesia and a boy suspected of harming his girlfriend overcome adversity to find the answers they seek. A 17-year-old girl wakes up in a ditch, disoriented and with no memory of who she is or what happened. Found by the Alton, Oregon, police, she is brought to the station. Soon after, Wayne Boone, a man claiming to be her father, shows up. He has photos of her on his phone and her high school ID card, with the name Mary Boone. Wayne convinces the police to release Mary into his custody. The more time Mary spends with Wayne, however, the weirder things get: He's unaware of her food allergy, and as her memories start to return, they don't conform with Wayne's versions of her life. In the town of Washington City, across the Willamette River, Drew is in a bad place. His girlfriend, Lola, has disappeared, and Drew was the last person to see her. His adoptive dads and cousin are the only ones who support him; everyone else, including the sheriff, thinks he's responsible for Lola's disappearance. Intent on finding Lola, Drew finds help in an unlikely ally, Lola's best friend, Autumn, who is the sheriff's daughter. But will they find Lola in time? The two immersive storylines bring to life the trials and frustrations each main character faces in this debut, which is a thrilling delight right up to the unexpected and bittersweet conclusion. Most characters are cued white; one of Drew's dads is Guatemalan. A gripping tribute to resilience. (Thriller. 14-18)

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October 23, 2023
Skillfully employing dual POVs, debut author Lally combines an amnesia plot with a missing girl mystery to deliver a suspenseful thrill ride. When a teenage girl is found in a ditch, bruised and unable to remember her name or the events that led to her predicament, Oregon police bring her to the station. A distraught man named Wayne soon arrives, claiming that the girl is his daughter Mary and brandishing as proof her birth certificate, Social Security card, and cell phone photos of the two of them. In Wayne’s custody, Mary acclimates to her new normal; still, she harbors doubts about Wayne’s truthfulness, especially as her memories start returning. Meanwhile, Andrew “Drew” Carter-Diaz is putting up missing girl posters, hoping to find his girlfriend, 17-year-old Lola Scott, who disappeared from Washington City five weeks earlier. Though most people assume that Drew killed her, Drew—aided by his cousin Max, and Max’s girlfriend and local sheriff’s daughter Autumn—seeks the truth. Drew and Mary’s evocatively rendered alternating perspectives persuasively build tension and slowly dispense information amid the twisting, shock-filled plot, all the way up to a gratifying resolution. Main characters read as white; one of Drew’s fathers is Guatemalan. Ages 14–up. Agent: Mandy Hubbard, Emerald City Literary.

January 1, 2024

Gr 9 Up-A teen wakes up on the side of an Oregon country road; she has brown hair, green eyes, is covered in dirt and blood, and doesn't remember a thing-not even her name. A patrol cop finds her and takes her to a small local precinct where a man named Wayne shows up, calling her Mary and claiming to be her father, with legal documents and family photos as proof. The first-person perspective then shifts to Drew, who is printing out flyers of his missing girlfriend, Lola, who has brown hair and green eyes-and readers will think they know where this one is going. The perspective shifts every few chapters, as each character deals with their situation-Mary in the remote cabin trying to remember anything about her life, while Drew lives with the stigma of being the prime suspect in Lola's disappearance. Lally's debut is a page-turning read set over only a few days as Mary becomes increasingly unsettled by the cracks emerging in Wayne's story and Drew, his cousin Max, and Lola's best friend, Autumn, launch their own investigation to find Lola, with the story lines intersecting in a heart-pounding conclusion. A note: Wayne focuses on Mary wearing "appropriate" clothes (e.g., no V-necks); there is no sexual assault. Most characters read white; Drew was adopted by his fathers (one is white, one is Guatemalan American) as a toddler. VERDICT Part amnesia thriller, part teen detective story, this is full of thrills and a great selection for collections.-Amanda Mastrull

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