CW:staged suicide which is quite a bloody scene as the wrists are cut, loss of loved one, mob related murders, possessive and aggressive boyfriend

3.5 Stars

Well that was a good YA murder mystery. The main character was a bit of a smart-arse which made for a few entertaining moments. There are enough twists and turns to keep the target audience guessing with some pretty good red-herrings. Overall, an interesting story that I will definitely order for the library. ( )

Fake ID is a well written story about Nick whose family is on their fourth try in the Witness Protection Program. If Nick's father can't stop himself this time from violating the rules of the program, they will be out. Nick's mom has just about had enough and contemplates leaving. As Nick starts classes in his new high school, he immediately makes a new friend and finds himself interested in a girl. His new friend, Eli, runs the school newspaper and is the semi-official greeter for the numerous new students that seem to find their way to Stepton's high school. Nick quickly runs afoul of the school's bully, Zach, when he spends time with Zach's former girlfriend, Reya. These all seem like big problems to Nick until Eli starts talking to him about something called "Whispertown" and seemingly commits suicide in the school newspaper office on a Friday evening when Nick goes on his first official assignment covering the football game for the paper. Finding Eli's body on Monday morning puts Nick in the middle of a town scandal right at the very time he is supposed to be lying low. Trying to prove that Eli didn't commit suicide digs Nick deeper into a town that isn't what it seems.
This book is very interesting and well written with lots of unexpected twists and turns, but I have trouble liking the character of Nick. Much of his trouble stems from his lack of honesty with those around him which seems to run in his family. Overall a good story, but not a very happy one. ( )

A teenager in the Witness Protection program gets caught up in a dangerous mystery after his only friend at his new school dies. Lamar Giles keeps the reader engaged with interesting characters and well timed twists. ( )

Nick Pearson has a fake ID from the Witness Protection Program. After multiple names & locations, he knows the secret to survival is laying low. When his friend dies under odd circumstances, he must balance solving the mystery & protecting his real identity.

It's entirely possible that the circumstances going into reading this book soured me a bit to some of its faults and made them stand out more. I read this book as part of Book Riot's 2020 read harder challenge. This was under the category of "Read a mystery where a woman is not the victim". So, I was already approaching it thinking of how objectified women's bodies tend to be in mysteries. While the main mystery of this book is centered around the death of a young boy, the women are still objectified, just not in corpse form. But a lot a time is spent ogling the body of a teenaged girl. which, okay, the protagonist is a teenaged boy, that is acceptable. But there is a throwaway line about adult police officers coming to teenaged parties to admire "teenaged a**".Then there is a scene where the protagonist intimidates a foe with insinuations of prison rape that lean heavily on feminization and emasculation as insults. Even the protagonist's mother is largely portrayed as an inconvenience or an obstacle. When she leaves, literally the only thing that gets a direct mention of being worse is that his Dad's cooking is awful. All of which makes some of the other times where social issues are brought up but then not particularly addressed feel all the more hollow.

That being said, the book does have some good bits. The plot is engaging. The narration from the audiobook I borrowed on Libby is excellent. The concept is fresh. I always appreciate YA books that allow their protagonists to be flawed human beings, which this one does. It's also a book that has a diverse cast of characters. But in the end, the objectification of the women in the book made the read less than enjoyable. ( )