The Headmaster's List / Melissa de la Cruz.

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Title:

Author:

De la Cruz, Melissa, 1971- author.

ISBN:

9781250827388

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

392 pages ; 22 cm.

Abstract:

Eighteen-year-old Spencer Sandoval goes to dangerous lengths to uncover the truth about a fatal car crash and its relation to her school's honor roll.

Eighteen-year-old Spencer Sandoval wishes she knew. As rumors swirl that her ex, Ethan, was the driver that fateful night, she can't bring herself to defend him. And their messy breakup has nothing to do with it - she can't remember anything from that night, not even what put her in that car with Ethan, Chris, and Tabby Hill, the new loner in school. Was it just a night out that went very wrong? And is it just a coincidence they were all part of Argyle's esteemed honor roll, the Headmaster's List? In a place ruled by pedigree and privilege, the answers can only come at a deadly price.

Reading Level:

Ages 14-18. Roaring Brook Press.

Grades 10-12. Roaring Brook Press.

Geographic Term:

Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Juvenile fiction.

Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Fiction.

California -- Los Angeles (OCoLC)fst01204540

Genre:

School fiction (OCoLC)fst02020484

Juvenile works (OCoLC)fst01411637

Fiction (OCoLC)fst01423787

Mystery fiction.

Suspense fiction.

Detective and mystery fiction. (OCoLC)fst01726581

Novels. (OCoLC)fst01921742

Thrillers (Fiction) (OCoLC)fst01726755

Thrillers (Fiction)

Detective and mystery fiction.

Young adult fiction.

School fiction.

Novels.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Teen Fiction Book Hardback	120791003061036	T DEL	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

One of Us Is Lying meets Gossip Girl in The Headmaster's List , an edge-of-your-seat YA thriller about a fatal car crash and the dangerous lengths one teen will go to uncover the truth about what really happened.

Friday night. The party of the summer. Four teens ride home together. Only one never makes it.

When high school sophomore Chris Moore is tragically killed in a car crash, Armstrong Prep is full of questions. Who was at the wheel? And more importantly, who was at fault?

Eighteen-year-old Spencer Sandoval wishes she knew. As rumors swirl that her ex, Ethan, was the reckless driver, she can't bring herself to defend him. And their messy breakup has nothing to do with it - she can't remember anything from that night, not even what put her in that car with Ethan, Chris, and Tabby Hill, the new loner in school.

The hunt for answers intensifies when a local true crime podcast takes an interest in the case, pushing Spencer further into the depths of this sinister mystery. Was it all just a night out that went very wrong? And is it a coincidence that all but Chris is on Armstrong's esteemed honor roll, the Headmaster's List? In a place ruled by pedigree and privilege, the truth can only come at a deadly price.

Set against the glitz and glamour of an elite LA private school, Melissa de la Cruz's explosive YA thriller is an addictive mystery perfect for fans of Only Murders in the Building and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder .

"There's nothing Melissa de la Cruz can't write, and she continues to prove it with this razor-sharp, glitteringly mysterious thriller! Put The Headmaster's List at the top of your TBR." -- Kiersten White, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the And I Darken trilogy

"Melissa de la Cruz will keep you guessing - all the way up to the last page even when you think you've figured it out! Everything you want in a thriller - a complicated heroine, snarky outsiders, cute boys, and a surprising and insightful story about status, race, class and tragedy in Los Angeles." -- Sara Shepard, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

After leaving a party, four teens get into a car crash that results in traumatic injuries and death in this riveting mystery by de la Cruz (Going Dark). Eighteen-year-old Spencer Sandoval, an astronaut hopeful with plans to attend Caltech, is a top student and on the coveted Headmaster's List at her elite L.A. prep school. Following the accident--which involved über-popular Christopher Moore, who was killed in the crash; classmate Tabby Hill; and ex-boyfriend Ethan Amoroso--Spencer wakes up in the hospital with serious injuries and few memories of the party. She's given a service dog named Ripley and assigned a student aide, Ethan's best friend Jackson Chen, to help her take notes in class. As she and Jackson grow closer, rumors claiming that Ethan was responsible for the crash begin circulating. Spencer and Jackson decide to investigate the incident, hoping to prove Ethan's innocence, especially as an even more concerning rumor comes to light: that the crash was actually a premeditated murder. Employing familiar prep school tropes, de la Cruz renders an invigorating thriller populated by well-rounded characters and teeming with anticipatory tension. Character descriptions imply racial diversity throughout. Ages 14--up. (Feb.)

Kirkus Review

Four teens are in a car crash that leaves one of them dead and badly injures another. Eighteen-year-old Spencer Sandoval is an ambitious overachiever who, unlike some of her more privileged peers, has worked ceaselessly to secure a spot on the coveted headmaster's list at her predominantly White Los Angeles prep school. Serious physical injuries are the less troublesome parts of the trauma Spencer sustains from the crash, however--she also experiences traumatic flashbacks about the accident, all the more upsetting because she can't remember much from the night it occurred. The third-person narration and Spencer's continued Vicodin use lend themselves well to sustaining the tension, with transcripts from a true-crime podcast created by a fellow Armstrong Prep student interspersed throughout. When Spencer teams up with Jackson Chen, her ex-boyfriend Ethan Amoroso's best friend, in an effort to find out the truth about the accident, they develop a relationship that will pull in romance fans. Unsubtle foreshadowing may lead to readers' working out pieces of the mystery before Spencer does. Still, some original details, such as the presence of Ripley, a service dog given to Spencer, add to this story's appeal. Ethnically ambiguous Spencer is described as brown with immigrant parents; names cue ethnic diversity in several secondary characters. A twisty thriller with a likable and complicated protagonist. (Thriller. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.