The Dare

February 26, 2024
Academic focus is at an all-time low at senior Marley Croft’s high school, where, with three weeks left in the school year, dares of increasing complexity and danger are handed out to willing—and unwilling—soon-to-be graduates as part of a long-standing tradition of senior pranks. Rhett Wilder, the leader of the pranksters, comes from a rich and powerful family—and was also once Marley’s best friend. Rhett assigns Marley and her crew—including boyfriend Atlas, bestie Luce, and Luce’s boyfriend Jesse—several dares, the second of which turns deadly, leaving the group contending with an impossible situation that threatens to completely overturn their lives. As the teens attempt to move on from the event, they’re forced to lie to keep from being connected to the prank. Tensions increase, the group begins falling apart, and Marley finds that the others have started acting weird—and are aligning themselves against her. Though the novel’s outcome feels somewhat ambiguous, Marley is a smart and empathetic protagonist whose plans to save herself only reinforce this characterization in this ever-escalating suspense thriller by Preston (The Haunting). Characters are minimally described. Ages 12–up.

April 1, 2024
Marley, who's on the cusp of graduating from high school, looks forward to going to college in California, but first, she must endure senior prank week. What began as a harmless tradition to annoy the hapless school principal has evolved into a more serious series of pranks and dares orchestrated by the five Wilder brothers: Everett, Emmett, Rhett, Garrett, and Truett. Rhett, who's Marley's former friend, is leading this year's pranks and imposing severe consequences on non-participants. When their dare results in tragedy for a group of friends--Marley, Luce, Jesse, and Atlas (Marley's boyfriend)--they make a pact to keep what happened a secret. Marley continues to be wracked with self-reproach, however, and paranoia and guilt begin to tear the teens' friendships apart. It's crucial for readers to approach the book with suspension of disbelief, because the characters sometimes act without clear motivation and at other times seem to understand who's responsible for events based on very flimsy evidence. The dialogue also becomes repetitive at points. While this may not be Preston's strongest work, her dedicated followers will find in it the suspenseful approach they love. Luce is cued Latine; Atlas reads Black, and the rest of the characters present white. Unlikely to gain the author any new readers but will appeal to her fans. (Thriller. 12-18)

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June 7, 2024

Gr 8 Up-In Preston's latest, senior pranks have kicked off, but they seem to have been taken up a notch. No longer harmless stunts, these pranks are now dangerous and often illegal. The Wilder Boys own this rite of passage assigning the pranks as "dares," and it seems blackmail must be at play for the students to even consider following through. The first "over-the-line" dare involves breaking into a home and stealing a valuable gold watch. The next requires a group of friends to drive without headlights on a treacherous mountain road. When they realize the "thump" they heard was not an animal, but an elderly man (the same one who owned the stolen watch), the kids panic and do everything in their power to cover it up. They cannot have a manslaughter charge clouding their college plans. The tide shifts quickly, however, as each of the friends is convinced the others will crack. Relationships crumble as everyone does everything in their power to quickly paint their compatriots into the murder frame. Main character Marley works feverishly to stay two steps ahead of her peers. Discussion of race is absent and most characters default to white. The creation of suspense is superlative, and the pages fly by as readers dread the next steps but also crave resolution. VERDICT Readers willing to suspend disbelief will be treated to a solid murder mystery; this is a fantastic bridge into the world of adult thriller.-Leah Krippner

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