Lie by Caroline Bock

Lie by Caroline Bock (St. Martin's Griffin, 2011)


Summary from publisher:
Everybody knows, nobody's talking... Seventeen year old Skylar Thompson is being questioned by the police.  Her boyfriend, Jimmy, stands accused of brutally assaulting two young El Salvadoran immigrants from a neighboring town, an she's the prime witness.  Skylar is keeping quiet about what she's seen, but how long can she keep it up?
But Jimmy was her savior... When her mother died, he was the only person who made her feel safe, protected from the world.  But when she begins to appreciate the enormity of what has happened, especially when Carlos Cortez, one of the victims, steps up to demand justice, she starts to have second thoughts about protecting Jimmy.  Jimmy's accomplice, Sean, is facing his own moral quandary.  he's out on bail and has been offered a plea in exchange for testifying against Jimmy.
The truth must be told... Sean must decide whether or not to turn on his friend in order to save himself.  But most important, both he and Skylar need to figure out why they would follow someone like Jimmy in the first place.

This is an intense book.  From the moment I started reading the first page, I couldn't put this one down.  Told from several voices, the story revolves around the brutal beating of two brothers who the teens assume to be illegal Mexican immigrants.  Jimmy and his friends go "on patrol" to keep "beaners" from coming into their town on Long Island, and one night things go to far.  If this story had been told just from Skylar's view or just from Jimmy's, the novel would not have been as rich or as compelling.

There were moments when I gasped out loud as I was reading.  It takes a lot to surprise me, and I love it when that happens.  Bock does a great job of pacing this novel to keep the suspense growing.

This is definitely a book for older readers that captures the uneasy feelings about illegal immigration in our country today.  I highly recommend it.