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Ruth Baron is the web editor at O Magazine. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Defriended
by Ruth Baron
eBook
$5.99
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ISBN-13:
9780545469555
- Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
- Publication date: 04/30/2013
- Sold by: Scholastic, Inc.
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 256
- Sales rank: 232,361
- File size: 2 MB
- Age Range: 14 - 18 Years
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A friend request from beyond the grave . . . Jason has met the perfect girl. OK, so maybe he hasn't actually MET Lacey yet, but they talk online all the time. Yet despite spending most nights chatting, Lacey refuses to meet up in person. Suspicious, Jason starts googling, and his cyberstalking leads to a shocking discovery: According to multiple newspapers, Lacey died a year earlier. Soon, Jason finds himself enmeshed in a disturbing mystery. Has he found a way to iChat with the dead? Or is someone playing a dangerous trick? Either way, Jason has to discover the truth before it's too late. You can't put up away messages from beyond the grave. . . .
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Children's Literature - Myrna Dee Marler
Jason is a sophomore who, like many sophomore boys, has not seen any girl action in his life except for the occasional slow dance at a school party; unlike his best friend Rakesh who is the most popular guy in school. Nevertheless his preoccupation is with Facebook and during long school hours he composes status reports in his mind about his unending boredom. But finally, he has a girl in his life, Lacey—well, in his Facebook life. She goes to school one town over and has accepted his friend request in response to a quote on her page that he also likes. Before long, they are exchanging messages about their likes and dislikes, which seem amazingly in tune. Then he discovers that she died tragically several months before. In his quest to solve this mystery, he meets Lacey's best friend Jenna and Lacey's boyfriend as well as several others of her friends. He is convinced that Lacey is still alive and in hiding. The action gets frenetic towards the end, the killer is revealed, and so is the real correspondent with whom he is so compatible. A well-written mystery for young adults that has tapped into all the electronic paraphernalia that goes along with being a teen these days. Reviewer: Myrna Dee MarlerVOYA - Victoria Vogel
Jason is a quiet, poetic teen who spends a lot of time on Facebook, living vicariously through his over-200 "friends." He considers his life fairly ordinary and he is used to going unnoticed, unlike his best friend Rakesh who seems to be friends with everyone, and gets girls easily. He is instantly attracted to the Facebook profile of a girl named Lacey Gray. She takes an immediate interest in him, and the two seem to connect, sharing the same music and reading tastes. His interest in her turns into a crush that leads him to Google her when she resists meeting up. Doing so reveals that she died a year earlier, causing him to wonder with whom he has been corresponding. With the help of Rakesh, he tries to figure out her real persona on treks to her hometown. He meets her best friend, Jenna, who leads him deeper into her life, but who seems to be harboring a secret of her own. With the popularity of "catfishing" (developing relationships online with individuals who have created false identities), the subject matter of this title is timely. Readers will be swept up in the mystery and will feel emotionally vested in Jason's pursuit of the truth. The subject matter and compelling mystery make this title a fun read. Reviewer: Victoria VogelSchool Library Journal
Gr 9 Up—It has been several months since Jason and Lacey started messaging each other through Facebook, and Jason has never been happier. Finally, he has found a girl who understands him and listens to the same indie bands that he does, not to mention that she also happens to be beautiful. There's only one problem: a Google search for Lacey's name links to her obituary. Stunned by this revelation, Jason is soon enveloped by the mystery surrounding Lacey's death and the dramas of the high school caste system that he has tried so hard to avoid. Defriended is an exciting mystery that will appeal to today's digital natives who have grown up surrounded by status updates, tweets, and mobile devices. Furthermore, this novel is timely due to recent high-profile examples of "catfishing"-where an individual creates a false online identity, often with deceptive or malicious romantic goals. Baron's writing style is full of references to the indie-music scene and maintains an engaging pace throughout. Of note is the regular use of instant and text messages sent between the characters, identifiable through the use of a separate font style that perfectly captures the now-dominant mode of communication among students and their peers. An excellent addition to any YA mystery collection.—Ryan F. Paulsen, New Rochelle High School, NYKirkus Reviews
A ghost-story wannabe for the digital age. Jason Moreland likes alternative bands and '80s movies, so perhaps it's not surprising that the girls at his high school just aren't into him. But when he gets a message back from Lacey Gray, a random Facebook friend, he discovers the girl of his dreams online. When a casual Internet search turns up memorial pages and obituaries, Jason worries Lacey might be too cool for him--literally. Jason decides to investigate Lacey's life and death, using the messages Lacey is apparently sending from beyond the grave. Baron's near-manic mentions of social media and technology quickly become tiresome and only serve to jar the narrative flow away from the breakneck action pace. Jason has very little personality--a bland protagonist indistinguishable from the generic Everyteen semihero. Given the numerous incidents of social media hacking in the real world, it stretches credulity that Jason accepts a paranormal explanation instead of suspecting a hijack attempt. The pages are populated by unsympathetic characters who feel as shallow as the promoted posts on a newsfeed. Baron produces a novel that feels based on adult assumptions regarding teens' use of Facebook; it will likely appeal only to the disconnected adult gift-giver with no sense of teen reading taste. (Horror. 12-16)