Kaylee Novell, 17, has a big secret, and she's managed to keep it from her friends and classmates for a long time until Liana Fatone, producer of an award-winning podcast, shows up at her door. The second season of the show, The Possible, focuses on Crystal Bryar, Kaylee's birth mother, who received national attention at age 14 for having telekinetic powers, and again at 23 for being convicted of murdering her two-year-old son. Kaylee, who was four at the time, was the prosecution's star witness. Liana's investigation piques Kaylee's curiosity, and she begins to wonder if perhaps she, too, has telekinesis. Altebrando (The Leaving) nails the staccato delivery of popular investigative podcasts like Serial, a style that she uses to punctuate the questions Kaylee asks herself ("What if Will hadn't actually seen anything? What if she had come on to him? What if he'd let her?"). Her sentences, though spare, are extremely effective in landing emotional punches ("I'd have to write him back. I'd have to tell him. I wasn't special") in this taut and thoroughly gripping mystery. Ages 13–up. Agent: David Dunton, Harvey Klinger. (June)

Gr 9 Up—In this absorbing psychological mystery, adopted 17-year-old Kaylee's ordinary life (softball, best friends, school, a crush on a boy) is drastically altered after Liana, a producer of a Serial-like podcast, asks to interview her about Crystal, Kaylee's birth mother, who claimed to have telekinesis as a teen. For most of the past 13 years, Kaylee has tried to forget Crystal and the knowledge that when Kaylee was four, her eyewitness testimony helped sentence Crystal to prison for killing Kaylee's two-year-old brother. Her mother insisted she didn't do it, and Liana intends to prove whether Crystal's powers are real. Kaylee's "what ifs" resurface as the unexplained events that she suspects she might have caused over the years make her question whether she has paranormal powers, too. Her obsession with Crystal and her past threatens her relationship with her loving parents and with Aiden, her best guy friend, and forces Kaylee to take a hard look at herself. The narrative's structure, with its podcast excerpts, texts, emails, and copies of documents, adds to the book's appeal. Most of the characters are fleshed out, except Crystal, who remains maddeningly underdeveloped. Kaylee is not always an easy character to like, given her sometimes insensitive attitude toward others, but her characterization seems authentic considering her lived experience. VERDICT This gripping tale, full of unexpected twists and turns, will intrigue readers who enjoy psychological thrillers with a touch of the paranormal. A strong selection for most libraries.—Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton