Review Detail

I DO NOT TRUST YOU by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz is a young adult thriller that follows Memphis “M” Engel all over the world as she searches for pieces of an ancient Egyptian statue. If she can find them before the cult that kidnapped her father does, she can trade them for her father’s life. Or at least she hopes. Ash, her traveling companion, is there to help, but he has his own interests, beginning and ending with an opposing cult that also wants those pieces. To defeat old and dangerous puzzles in different countries and languages, M and Ash have to work as a team. In order to do that, they need to trust each other, but M isn’t willing to risk her father’s life on Ash’s fidelity.

This book is such a rich surprise. The story is set in present day and splashed against the backdrop of many world mythologies. It is lush with knowledge and history and it ignites my own interest in folklore and other cultures. With the characters, we readers get to travel to England, France, Egypt, Thailand, Italy, India, and more, and as such, it evokes a special kind of wanderlust.

I especially love how the relationship between M and Ash evolves over the course of the book and how they have to decide if they’ll ultimately betray each other. However, I am still confused as to why they have to split up later in the book. The solution M creates when fleeing in Central America should have been an obvious solution to them in New Orleans after what they witnessed in Bali. I wish the authors had crafted a more compelling reason to separate, so it didn’t feel like such a plot device.

With that being said, I DO NOT TRUST YOU is a thrilling adventure, one that will appeal to fans of TOMB RAIDER, INDIANA JONES, and THE DA VINCI CODE.