Fans of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy will just love this creepy and alluring teen thriller. Complete with action, techie intrigue, a horrifying mystery, and a blossoming romance full of sparks, Find Me is an exhilarating debut.
When teen hacker and foster child Wick Tate finds a dead classmate's diary on her front step, with a note reading "Find me," she sets off on a perverse game of hide-and-seek to catch the killer. But things get even more personal as Wick's deadbeat dad returns and the killer points to Wick's sister Lily as the next target.
With the help of oh-so-cute hacker-boy-next-door Griff, can Wick find her tormenter and save her sister?
Find Me won a 2012 Golden Heart Award and placed first in the 2011 YA Unpublished Maggie Awards (given by Georgia Romance Writers).
Publishers Weekly
09/16/2013
Here are some things Wick Tate knows: how to hack into almost any system; that, between her mother’s suicide and her abusive drug-dealing father, she’s responsible for keeping her sister, Lily, safe; and that no matter how loving their new foster parents seem, she can’t trust them or anyone else. Wick isn’t even sure she can trust herself—what if she’s too much like her father? Although Wick and Lily now have nice clothes and a stable living environment, the cop looking for their father keeps coming around, and their father’s partner can still force Wick to work for him. Then there are the memories churned up when a childhood friend kills herself, and her diary ends up in Wick’s hands. While Wick’s fears and suspicions initially seem overwrought, they grow to become entirely reasonable as she’s forced to make some very adult decisions. Throw in Wick’s burgeoning romance with classmate Griff and a genuinely suspenseful ending, and Bernard’s debut is effective as both high-intensity action novel and character study, and ripe for a sequel. Ages 13–up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary. (Oct.)
Booklist
Will have readers on the edge of their seats.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
A slick and fast-paced genre thriller with both mystery and hard-boiled action, as well as a touch of romantic possibility.
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Fast paced, creepy, and full of nail-biting action and suspense...a solid choice for reluctant readers and fans of gripping suspense.
Jay Asher
FIND ME is a thriller that keeps picking up speed. I needed to follow this tough heroine through grim revelations to find out if everything would be okay!
Sophie Jordan
Fast-paced and full of twists, FIND ME will leave you breathless. Bernard is an exceptional new voice in YA.
VOYA, February 2014 (Vol. 36, No. 6) - Alissa Lauzon
No matter how much her new foster parents seem to care, Wicket refuses to be lulled into a false sense of security by her new lifestyle. Determined to keep her sister, Lily, safe, Wicket puts her hacking skills to work building savings in case her on-the-run criminal father returns. When a former friend, Tessa, commits suicide, her diary mysteriously ends up on Wick’s doorstep with a note reading “Find Me.” Wick is unable to resist the challenge, and as she delves deeper into Tessa’s life, she discovers that not only was Tessa involved in an abusive relationship with an older man but that his next target is Lily. Soon Wick finds herself involved in a cat-and-mouse game with the man in an attempt to identify him. Bernard’s debut novel is fast paced, creepy, and full of nail-biting action and suspense. The intensity and drama are successfully maintained throughout the novel. The mystery will keep readers on the edge of their seats, and the ultimate revelation of the identity of Tessa’s abuser will come as a surprise to many readers. The intensity of the story is broken up by a thread of romance between Wicket and her computer lab partner, Griff, who ultimately cracks her tough-girl persona. Wick’s relationships with her sister, her only friend, and even her foster mother are well crafted as well. The antagonistic relationship with the cop adds to the tension, yet his character is one that needs to be better fleshed out and given more dimension. Though Wick’s hacking plays an integral role, it is never fully developed and is more tell than show. Despite its flaws, it is a solid choice for reluctant readers and fans of gripping suspense. Reviewer: Alissa Lauzon; Ages 12 to 18.
School Library Journal
10/01/2013
Gr 9 Up—Tessa Waye was Wicket Tate's best friend until five years ago when Wick's drug-dealing father drove them apart. When Tessa commits suicide and her diary is left on the teen's front steps, Wick suspects there might be a dark reason she jumped to her death. Wick and her sister, Lily, are now free of their criminal father, living a shiny new life on the ritzy side of town with their foster parents. But Wick resists the temptation to immerse herself in this white-picket-fence lifestyle. She's always ready to run, or hide, because she fears her father will come back for them. Wick, an untrusting outcast, is an antiheroine to root for. Distraught by Tessa's fate and her own past, she sets out to use her hacking skills to track down the man responsible for her ex-friend's death. She is all too aware of her talent but woefully ignorant of her redeeming qualities that cause Griff, a fellow hacker, to fall in love with her. Bernard's debut is notable for its readability, genre-crossing blend of thrills and romance, and its something-for-everyone qualities.—Jamie-Lee Schombs, Loyola School, New York City
Kirkus Reviews
Wicket Tate kicks into high gear with her hacking skills when her little sister is threatened following another girl's suicide. Wick and Lily's father is an abuser and a criminal, and it's been up to Wick to protect the naïve Lily ever since their mother jumped to her death; well-to-do foster parents Bren and Todd have given the girls a second chance, but Wick is still in survival mode. Classmate Tessa's death becomes personal when Wick finds a copy of Tessa's diary on her front porch in the middle of the night. Carson, the cop who's still looking for her dad, and Griff, an attractive fellow student, are pulled into the plot, along with Tessa's parents and sister. It's clear from the diary that Tessa was in an abusive relationship with an older man, but how to identify him and why there are threats against Lily remain murky. Wick's hacking activities are integral to the plot but are not as fully fleshed out as they should be, resulting in some telling rather than showing, distancing readers. Romance blossoms between Griff and Wick despite her resistance, adding a vulnerability to Wick's tough-cookie persona. The pace is so swift that there's no time for readers to examine minor inconsistencies or to wonder why such a smart hacker would sometimes give up so easily. A thriller chiller with some hot moments. (Suspense. 12-16)
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