A Line in the Dark

by Malinda Lo Narrated by Jennifer Lim

Overview

“A twisty, dark psychological thriller that will leave you guessing til the very end."-Teen Vogue

“[A] riveting read..."-NPR

The line between best friend and something more is a line always crossed in the dark.
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Jess Wong is Angie Redmond's best friend. And that's the most important thing, even if Angie can't see how Jess truly feels. Being the girl no one quite notices is OK with Jess anyway. If nobody notices her, she's free to watch everyone else. But when Angie begins to fall for Margot Adams, a girl from the nearby boarding school, Jess can see it coming a mile away. Suddenly her powers of observation are more a curse than a gift.
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As Angie drags Jess further into Margot's circle, Jess discovers more than her friend's growing crush. Secrets and cruelty lie just beneath the carefree surface of this world of wealth and privilege, and when they come out, Jess knows Angie won't be able to handle the consequences.
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When the inevitable darkness finally descends, Angie will need her best friend.
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“It doesn't even matter that she probably doesn't understand how much she means to me. It's purer this way. She can take whatever she wants from me, whenever she wants it, because I'm her best friend.”
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A Line in the Dark is a story of love, loyalty, and murder.


¿ "Mesmerizing."-Kirkus, starred review.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

08/07/2017
In this unusually structured murder mystery, Lo (Inheritance) explores the knotty jealousies, romantic longings, and class disparities among students at a pair of Massachusetts high schools. The first half of the novel is seen through the eyes of Jess Wong, a Chinese-American 16-year-old, who is in love with her best friend Angie but afraid to admit it. She’s even more reluctant to do so after Angie begins dating Margot, a popular athlete from a nearby private school. In addition to worrying that she’s losing Angie, Jess clashes with Margot’s friend Ryan, which turns Jess into a potential suspect after Ryan goes missing after a party and is eventually found dead. Jess’s insecurities and simmering emotions are palpable in her first-person narration, and the superhero comics she draws, which features a similar love triangle, further muddy the waters of the mystery behind Ryan’s death. Lo pivots halfway in, finishing the story through a mix of transcript of police interviews and third-person chapters, deepening the mystery, shifting potential guilt among multiple possible culprits, and keeping readers guessing until the final pages. Ages 14–up. Agent: Laura Langlie. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

With an active focus on female friendships and relationships, A Line in the Dark is a twisty, dark psychological thriller that will leave you guessing til the very end. The story follows two friends down a path of dysfunction and murder as one of them, Chinese-American Jess tries to balance the expectations of her family, her fraught relationship with Angie, and her mounting sexual attraction for her. Lo offers some impressive storytelling, a chilling plot, and mean girls aplenty.”—Teen Vogue

“[A] riveting read… The story of tensions, romances and even violence between townies and prep school kids is well-trodden ground, but Lo makes it new and exciting by creating nuanced queer characters and giving them the chance to make their own terrible decisions.”—NPR

"[A] heart-tugging story of a teenage girl who expresses herself in art in ways she can’t quite do in real life — even as she tries to hold on to her best friend despite grappling with deeper feelings for her.”—Vulture

"AAsh, Huntress, and Inheritance, A Line in the Dark. Lo instantly invites readers along, enticing them to stay up just a little bit later for the next big reveal, and supplies readers with one final twist that will take their breath away."—Lambda Literary

"[A] hauntingly captivating thriller."—Bustle

"This slender novel packs a punch."—Brightly

"A Line in the Dark marks Lo’s foray into the contemporary genre, promising an intense read that should be at the top of your list."—Paste

"Malinda Lo's A Line in the Dark is soaked in menace. Each page in this brilliant thriller is deliciously unsettling—like Gone Girl meets Pretty Little Liars." —Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of And I Darken and Now I Rise.

“A beautifully written and compellingly well-observed psychological thriller.” —Kate Elliott, New York Times bestselling author of Court of Fives and Cold Magic

"As soon as I finished, I had to read it again.” —Justine Larbalestier, author of My Sister Rosa and Liar

★"Malinda Lo delivers an enthralling mystery full of twists, turns, dark heroics... and high school."—Shelf Awareness, starred review 

★ "Lo has delivered an intricate tapestry of narrative, woven in a labyrinthine pattern of secrets and colored with intersecting hues of Chinese-American identity, the dark intensity of relationships, and telltale stains of blood.... Mesmerizing."—Kirkus, starred review

★ "The plot is fast-paced and will keep readers guessing until the end. The characters are well developed and feel authentic. It is refreshing to read about LGBT characters in a story where being LGBT is not the focus. Any young adult reader who loves psychological thrillers will be clamoring to get their hands on this captivating book."—SLC, starred review

"Drawing every character as complicit in unexpected and thought-provoking ways, Lo spins an addictive psychological mystery."—The Horn Book

"Dark, twisty, and unsettling, this book almost begs to be read in one sitting, and then instantly reread.... Verdict: A high-interest thriller with wide appeal recommended for all collections."—SLJ

★ Kirkus Best Teen Book  ★ 
★ Vulture 10 Best YA Books ★
★ Chicago Public Library's Best Teen Fiction ★
★ Rainbow List ★

School Library Journal

09/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—Friendship, romance, obsession, and crime all get tangled up in this complicated mystery about love and lies. Angie Redmond and Jess Wong are best friends, though Jess harbors a desperate and rather obvious crush on Angie. Their relationship becomes complicated when Angie begins to date Margot, a wealthy student at a nearby boarding school. Jess, a talented artist who creates a dark, supernatural comic about a love triangle, has her doubts about Margot, who seems cruel and controlling. Margot drives a wedge between Angie and Jess, but eventually, a murder brings them back together. As the police interview all three girls, the details of the night a student is killed highlight the tension among Angie, Jess, and Margot, but do not clearly point to who may have committed the crime. Just when it seems like the truth is coming to light, the story takes another turn, forcing readers to reassess everything they think they understand. Dark, twisty, and unsettling, this book almost begs to be read in one sitting, and then instantly reread. The pace picks up in the second part, with higher tension and uncertainty propelling the story forward quickly, encouraging teens to race to the whodunit conclusion. Though the final few chapters feel rushed, they provide a satisfying—and shocking—finale to this scandalous examination of jealousy, secrets, and untrustworthy characters. VERDICT A high-interest thriller with wide appeal recommended for all collections.—Amanda MacGregor, formerly at Great River Regional Library, Saint Cloud, MN

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169152067
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	10/17/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

This is what I remember: the leather box lying open on the marble kitchen island; inside it a bed of black satin cradling a golden gun. It’s small enough to look like a toy.

Across the kitchen, Angie opens the back door, letting in a freezing blast of winter air. She looks upset, and I’m pulled to her almost involuntarily. All I want to do is make sure she’s okay, and it doesn’t even matter that she probably doesn’t understand how much she means to me.

It’s purer this way. She can take whatever she wants from me, whenever she wants it, because I’m her best friend.

Margot comes inside behind Angie, grabbing her hand. “Please,” she says. Angie doesn’t pull away. She doesn’t even see me.

The room spins. My tongue is thick from the syrup of too many drinks. I have beached up against the edge of the island, the marble cutting into my stomach, and the box is right in front of me. The gun is engraved with leaves and flowers, and it looks like a charm you might wear on a bracelet next to a miniature dagger and a coil of rope.

I reach for it. The metal is cool, the gun heavier than I expected. It’s pretty. The vines seem to come alive, twining around the grip and the barrel, ending in the small dark muzzle: a silent, open mouth.

Someone says my name.

Ryan, Margot’s best friend, lunges toward me from the other side of the island. She’s an avenging demon of the ice princess variety, blond and pale with her silver dress glittering over pushed-up breasts while she points her finger at me.

“Liar.”

Angie is beside me, her face a mask of shock. “What the hell are you doing?” she demands. “Let’s go.”

It takes me a second to realize she wants to leave. With me.

She takes my hand, pulls the gun away. Her fingers are so cold it’s as if they’d been dipped in a bucket of ice, but they still send an electric jolt all the way through my vodka-induced emotional padding.

Angie puts the gun back in the box. Ryan picks it up, curling her finger around the trigger.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "A Line in the Dark"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Malinda Lo.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Young Readers Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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