SuitabookParent–child separation and reinvention
Sammy’s mother, Lana, has left her, changed her name and appearance, and built a Hollywood life that appears to exclude Sammy.
Loading your next page
Book details
Wendelin Van Draanen - Author
This is a young-person mystery shaped by an unsettled parent–child relationship. Its Hollywood setting emphasises disguise, performance and uncertainty, while the death nearby gives Sammy a potentially dangerous problem to investigate.
The elusive Lady Lana (a.k.a. Sammy's mom) ran off to Hollywood nearly a year ago to get "discovered." But when Sammy discovers that her mom has changed her name, dyed her hair, and told everyone she's only 25, she decides Lana needs a little reality check. I mean, it's one thing to have her mom ditch her. But it's another to find out she's created a life for herself where Sammy can't possibly exist.But Hollywood is a shock. Everyone is pretending here. No one is who or what they seem in this starlet-eat-starlet world. So when a woman is killed in the room next door, Sammy's hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't have a motive . . . including her own mom.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Book Brief
Sign in to see how this book fits your child and family preferences.
Sign in for personalised guidanceThis is a young-person mystery shaped by an unsettled parent–child relationship. Its Hollywood setting emphasises disguise, performance and uncertainty, while the death nearby gives Sammy a potentially dangerous problem to investigate.
Sammy’s mother, Lana, has left her, changed her name and appearance, and built a Hollywood life that appears to exclude Sammy.
Hollywood is presented as a place where people pretend and are not necessarily what they seem, while several people may have motives connected with the killing.
A woman is killed in the room next door, and Sammy must consider people around her, including her own mother, as potentially connected through motive.
The family separation and a woman’s killing could merit a check-in, particularly for readers sensitive to abandonment, bereavement or peril.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: the current material supports only a cautious reading; another book-specific source is still needed.
Book information
Limited information
Anything not established here remains open; it is not being treated as absent or safe.