When a high school basketball star becomes entangled in a rape charge, media schemes, and legal deception, he must confront all the people who turned their backs on him. Will he gain justice or be wrongfully charged of this terrible crime? Melvin is seventeen, the star of his basketball team, and expected to have a bright future. But it all falls to pieces one night when he joins his brothers’ thug friends at a wild party with two rich white girls. Drugged and drunk for most of the night, Melvin misses a brutal assault on the two girls. When the crime comes to light, he is arrested and charged with masterminding the gang rape. One of the girls’ fathers is a prominent prosecutor, who persuades the girls to lie—all because he hates the possibility that a young black man could succeed in life. He wants to crush him, and Melvin doesn’t stand a chance. Confused and physically drained, Melvin confesses to the crime. Mentally exhausted, Melvin tries to kill himself and is sent to the hospital. But then, unexpectedly, a reporter interviews him and finds overlooked flaws in the case. After a determined effort the case is finally reviewed. What happens next isn’t the happy ending Melvin was hoping for. But, with new determination, he learns to move forward.
Don’t miss Philippa East’s gripping and suspenseful new novel, A Guilty Secret available to pre-order now! ‘Breathtaking suspense. A phenomenal talent’ HOLLY SEDDON ‘Terrifically engaging’ JO SPAIN ‘Addictive. I couldn’t put it down’ PHOEBE MORGAN
Welcome to the page-turning, twisty, gasp-inducing world of the Debutantes - an addictive YA mystery duology from the author of #1 bestselling, TikTok sensation INHERITANCE GAMES series. 'A plot twist every twenty pages . . . Barnes is at her page-turning best.' E. Lockhart, author of We Were Liars A six-figure offer. A family mystery to solve. A town of buried secrets. When Auto mechanic Sawyer Taft's estranged grandmother offers her a six-figure contract to participate in debutante season, Sawyer's first instinct is to run a mile. But then she realizes her grandmother's offer might mean solving the biggest mystery of her life - her father's identity. So she signs on the dotted line and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses and even bigger egos. . . However, Sawyer doesn't expect to find a group of fellow debutantes with scandalous, dangerous secrets of their own and soon it's clear that the truth about her father is just one of the shocking secrets buried deep in this high-society world . . . And no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. Shocking twists, family secrets, a fish-out-of water protagonist and a page-turning mystery combine in Little White Lies and Deadly Little Scandals (The Debutantes Duology) - perfect for fans coming from THE INHERITANCE GAMES series looking for their next addictive read from the Master of YA Mysteries, Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
"A COMPLEX, CREEPY, AND INSIDIOUS NOVEL ABOUT AMBITION." --THE GUARDIAN "READERS OF RUTH WARE AND GILLIAN FLYNN WILL LOVE IT." --LIBRARY JOURNAL (STARRED REVIEW) "FASCINATING, BRILLIANT, CREEPY." --GOOD HOUSEKEEPING If you had the perfect life . . . how far would you go to protect it? Professor Olivia Sweetman has worked hard to achieve the life of her dreams, with a high-flying career as a TV presenter and historian, three children, and a talented husband. Only one other person knows that Olivia's perfect life is in fact a desperate tangle of lies: Vivian Tester, the socially awkward, middle-aged housekeeper of a Sussex manor who found the Victorian diary of a pioneering female surgeon on which Olivia's new biography is based. In a gripping narrative that shifts between London, Sussex, and the idyllic South of France, Olivia and Vivian will learn knife-edged truths about themselves and discover just how far each will go to protect her reputation.