The Almost Truth
Author: Eileen Cook
Pages: 256 pages
Release Date: December 4th, 2012
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
From the author of Unraveling Isobeland The Education of Hailey Kendrick, a smart, romantic novel about a teenage con artist who might be in over her head.
Sadie can’t wait to get away from her backwards small town, her delusional mom, her jailbird dad, and the tiny trailer where she was raised…even though leaving those things behind also means leaving Brendan. Sadie wants a better life, and she has been working steadily toward it, one con at a time.
But when Sadie’s mother wipes out Sadie’s savings, her escape plan is suddenly gone. She needs to come up with a lot of cash—and fast—or she’ll be stuck in this town forever.
With Brendan’s help, she devises a plan—the ultimate con—to get the money. But the more lies Sadie spins, the more she starts falling for her own hoax…and perhaps for the wrong boy. Sadie wanted to change her life, but she wasn't prepared to have it flipped upside down by her own deception. With her future at stake and her heart on the line, suddenly it seems like she has a lot more than just money to lose....
This is my first contemporary book in a very long time, and it was a good book. It was pretty small compared to the other books I've been reading, but it was a good read.
The book starts off with Sadie, our narrator, conning money at a convince store with people watching her. We learn that her dad is a criminal, that her mom works at a hotel, and that she is conning people out of their money to get out of her small town.
She is heading to Berkeley in the fall, ready to start her new life. But when she gets home, she has a bank statement saying that the four thousand that she saved up from working at the hotel part-time and conning people has disappeared. Her mom admits to have taken her money to help her dad in jail, but Sadie is furious.
Sadie plans her biggest con of all: to convince the wealthy McKenna family that she is their long lost daughter. It won't be too hard: she has her best friend Brendan, she's the same age as the missing heiress, and she's got all the skill to do it.
The book is only a little over 200 pages, and I was able to figure out early on what was going to happen with the whole con. What I didn't expect was her dad's confession. That really made me feel sorry for Sadie.
It was a good book, and I felt like I was reading a Heist Society/Sarah Dessen novel cross-over. Girl with a criminal dad? Check. A boy at her side? Check. A seemingly impossible goal? Check. A big con that may or may not work? Check, check, and double check.
What I didn't like was Brendan. He was there for Sadie, and I knew he liked her, I just didn't like him going off with other girls though; it just bothered me. I just felt like we could've gotten to know him better. But Sadie's character is really great, and I love her personality, and her ability to con. I think that's what made the story for me: Sadie, not the romance, but Sadie. She was a good narrator and I liked her a lot.
Like I said, it was a short book, but it is a good, light read. I love Eileen's dry, cynical humour in the book, and probably will pick up another one of her books.
The Almost Truth was a good book, so 3 out of 5 stars.
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