Review: THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE by Jennifer Mathieu

It’s been a while since I read a book that was this beautiful and intense. THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE by Jennifer Mathieu is brilliant and heartbreaking, and it’s a book that you definitely don’t want to miss.

Roaring Brook Press, June 2014.

Told from four points of view — none of which, by the way, is Alice, this is the story of how one high school became completely obsessed with one girl: Alice Franklin. Who is supposedly responsible for the car crash that killed the popular football star, Brandon. Whose name — along with increasingly disgusting rumors — adorns the “slut stall” in the girl’s bathroom. And as the tension rises, it’s not only Alice’s “truths” that are revealed, but also the truths about the four students who tell her story — Alice’s former best friend, the dead football player’s closest ally, the school’s queen bee, and the genius nerd — the only person with the courage to reach out to the now-outcast Alice Franklin.

THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE is a short book, but it packs a punch. And I wish it weren’t a story that we need, but it is. THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE is, honestly, the truth of many teens’ experiences. Jennifer Mathieu is a powerful writer, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.