Truthers

Scott Wallace prefers to live life in a fog. Alcohol, drugs, and conspiracy theories fuel his existence, and his daughter, Katie, has had to be the responsible adult in their two-person family for far too long. At seventeen, Katie should be worried about things like prom and her grades, but when her dad is hospitalized after freaking out at work, Katie is placed in foster care and visited by government figures who are obviously hiding things from her—as is her dad.

When Katie tries to find a lawyer who will help get her dad out of the institution where it appears he is being heavily sedated and perhaps tortured, the only one who will take her seriously gives her the task of researching her dad’s situation and his claims that the US government was behind 9/11. The best path to secure his release is to prove that 9/11 conspiracy theorists (Truthers) are not insane, and that their beliefs are plausible.

Katie’s search for answers—or at least a legal path to getting her dad released—takes her from a law library to interviews with men who served in the military with her dad and even to a Truther convention. Along the way she meets a helpful (and cute) genius, and she enlists the help of an odd assortment of characters including her best friend and the other girls in her foster home. Katie is a likeable character, and her adventure reads as surprisingly realistic. Although there is a lot of necessary explaining throughout the book, there is also plenty of action to balance that, and the plot will keep readers wondering and flipping pages. My only complaint about the book is the occasional perspective shift that--though I understand the reason for it--disrupts the flow of the book. Fortunately those interludes are brief, they serve their purpose, and I was able to recover and quickly immerse myself in Katie's story again. I found myself taking the book with me everywhere I went so that I could tear through pages with every spare moment.

Geoffrey Girard has put together an interesting YA novel that has history, mystery, romance, action, and intrigue. I think teens will really love TRUTHERS, and the book will prompt them to question (and hopefully research!) accepted explanations for everything out there.

My thanks to the publisher for an advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.