Accomplice by Eireann Corrigan

Two girls, life long best friends decide that getting into college is too hard. They've got the extracurriculars, they've got the grades, but they don't feel like they'll stand out in the sea of applicants. After watching a T.V. special on a girl who goes missing, they start to plan. What would happen if one of them went missing? Would that give them the edge they need? What would they have to do? How much would they have to plan? How exactly could they get away with it?

This novel reminded me a bit of Harmless by Dana Reinhardt, only taking the premise a step further. In Harmless the lie wasn't premeditated and was just to get them out of trouble after staying out too late one night. In Accomplice it is a deliberate act by two girls to achieve national attention. In both the lies spin out of control in ways that neither sets of girls anticipate. It is fascinating to watch the psychological issues that arise out of living a lie. And in particular a really, really big, world changing lie.

What is interesting to me is that Finn, the friend left to spin the lie as her friend hides didn't anticipate how difficult it would be. Correspondingly, it is perhaps even more interesting how little Chloe seems to care. I was left wondering exactly who Chloe was and who she had always been.

The arc of their friendship is the real strength of this novel. It explores the dynamics of friendship, its inequalities, its complexities, and what happens when people stop being polite and start being real (Ack! Forgive me! I couldn't help myself. This book is nothing like The Real World).

Anyhow, its a book that leaves you thinking. I enjoyed it.

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Book Source: Publisher Review Copy