Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Queer romance, friendship rivalries, and ominous secrets twist together in Lo's latest enthralling tale. Chinese-American Jess Wong has known her white best friend, Angie Redmond, since grade school—the problem is she's loved Angie for nearly as long, unrequited. When Angie begins dating Margot Adams, a wealthy white student at a nearby private school, Jess knows she should be happy that her friend is happy, but as jealousy and suspicion about Margot eat at her instead, her friendship with Angie begins to crack apart. Jess tries to throw herself into her comics art, but even there, themes of loyalty, love, and betrayal arise. As tensions reach their breaking point, a classmate and friend of Margot's is discovered murdered in the park, and the resulting upheaval and search for a killer sheds light on some harrowing truths about everyone. Lo has delivered an intricate tapestry of narrative, woven in a labyrinthine pattern of secrets and colored with intersecting hues of Chinese-American identity, the dark intensity of relationships, and telltale stains of blood. A sudden (and likely disorienting) shift from Jess' first-person perspective to a more detached third-person narration serves the practical purpose of providing information; together with police interview transcripts to which Jess couldn't be privy, it artfully signals to readers that Jess is no longer in control of the story…or the facts. Mesmerizing. (Thriller. 13-17)

ALA Booklist

Four girls teeter upon the precarious line between love and obsession in Lo's arresting psychological thriller. Sixteen-year-old Jess would do anything for her best friend Angie, anything but accept her beautiful, athletic new girlfriend, Margot, an entitled snob from Pearson Brooke School. Jess, who is attending art class at Pearson through an exchange program, has heard stories of Margot's and her friend Ryan's merciless bullying. When her attempts to show Angie the truth backfire, Jess finds herself gradually carved out of Angie's life. Uncertain of who she is without Angie to revolve around, Jess has to make sure that the moment Angie needs her again, she'll be there. The bulk of the story is told brilliantly from Jess' tightly observed perspective, her observations colored by intense jealousy and desire, the truth of which is doled out in subtle moments and expressive language. Though the late shift to a distant third person is jarring, Lo (Inheritance, 2013) uses it to further stoke a sense of foreboding that doesn't let up until the unpredictable conclusion.

Horn Book

When her best friend Angie falls for Margot, Jess's unrequited longing becomes jealousy. Angie hopes that the three of them, plus Margot's hostile best friend Ryan, can become close. Then, after a party, one of the four girls dies from a gunshot. Who killed her? Lo's taut storytelling expertly doles out clues and draws characters as complicit in unexpected ways for an addictive psychological mystery.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Queer romance, friendship rivalries, and ominous secrets twist together in Lo's latest enthralling tale. Chinese-American Jess Wong has known her white best friend, Angie Redmond, since grade school—the problem is she's loved Angie for nearly as long, unrequited. When Angie begins dating Margot Adams, a wealthy white student at a nearby private school, Jess knows she should be happy that her friend is happy, but as jealousy and suspicion about Margot eat at her instead, her friendship with Angie begins to crack apart. Jess tries to throw herself into her comics art, but even there, themes of loyalty, love, and betrayal arise. As tensions reach their breaking point, a classmate and friend of Margot's is discovered murdered in the park, and the resulting upheaval and search for a killer sheds light on some harrowing truths about everyone. Lo has delivered an intricate tapestry of narrative, woven in a labyrinthine pattern of secrets and colored with intersecting hues of Chinese-American identity, the dark intensity of relationships, and telltale stains of blood. A sudden (and likely disorienting) shift from Jess' first-person perspective to a more detached third-person narration serves the practical purpose of providing information; together with police interview transcripts to which Jess couldn't be privy, it artfully signals to readers that Jess is no longer in control of the story…or the facts. Mesmerizing. (Thriller. 13-17)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In this unusually structured murder mystery, Lo (Inheritance) explores the knotty jealousies, romantic longings, and class disparities among students at a pair of Massachusetts high schools. The first half of the novel is seen through the eyes of Jess Wong, a Chinese-American 16-year-old, who is in love with her best friend Angie but afraid to admit it. She-s even more reluctant to do so after Angie begins dating Margot, a popular athlete from a nearby private school. In addition to worrying that she-s losing Angie, Jess clashes with Margot-s friend Ryan, which turns Jess into a potential suspect after Ryan goes missing after a party and is eventually found dead. Jess-s insecurities and simmering emotions are palpable in her first-person narration, and the superhero comics she draws, which features a similar love triangle, further muddy the waters of the mystery behind Ryan-s death. Lo pivots halfway in, finishing the story through a mix of transcript of police interviews and third-person chapters, deepening the mystery, shifting potential guilt among multiple possible culprits, and keeping readers guessing until the final pages. Ages 14-up. Agent: Laura Langlie. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-riendship, romance, obsession, and crime all get tangled up in this complicated mystery about love and lies. Angie Redmond and Jess Wong are best friends, though Jess harbors a desperate and rather obvious crush on Angie. Their relationship becomes complicated when Angie begins to date Margot, a wealthy student at a nearby boarding school. Jess, a talented artist who creates a dark, supernatural comic about a love triangle, has her doubts about Margot, who seems cruel and controlling. Margot drives a wedge between Angie and Jess, but eventually, a murder brings them back together. As the police interview all three girls, the details of the night a student is killed highlight the tension among Angie, Jess, and Margot, but do not clearly point to who may have committed the crime. Just when it seems like the truth is coming to light, the story takes another turn, forcing readers to reassess everything they think they understand. Dark, twisty, and unsettling, this book almost begs to be read in one sitting, and then instantly reread. The pace picks up in the second part, with higher tension and uncertainty propelling the story forward quickly, encouraging teens to race to the whodunit conclusion. Though the final few chapters feel rushed, they provide a satisfyingand shockingfinale to this scandalous examination of jealousy, secrets, and untrustworthy characters. VERDICT A high-interest thriller with wide appeal recommended for all collections.Amanda MacGregor, formerly at Great River Regional Library, Saint Cloud, MN

Voice of Youth Advocates (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Jessica loves Angie. Angie is Jess’s best friend, but Jess wishes she were more. When Angie comes out and begins dating Margot, a student at Pearson Brooke, the area’s exclusive boarding school, Jess is riddled with anger and jealousy. As a talented artist and a student at West Bedford high school, Jess has created her own manga characters and story line, and she has worked hard to refine her drawings, enough so that she has earned a yearlong participation in the Pearson Brooke Arts Exchange Program during the afternoon. Jess is very observant and watches everything that takes place around her. Angie loves Jess as a best friend, but their relationship becomes strained under the weight of what is not said. Additionally, Margot’s best girl friend, Ryan, has issues, too. When Jess discovers an exchange of love letters between Ryan and an older male teacher at Pearson Brooke, tensions explode and Ryan is soon found dead of a gunshot wound following a party at Margot’s house. As the police investigate, Jess must decide whom to protect. A love triangle-murder mystery, A Line in the Dark explores the tortured and angst-ridden mind of Jess as she struggles to come to terms with her love for Angie and, simultaneously, her fear of losing her best friend if her love is not reciprocated. Each of the main characters is well crafted and show realistic emotions. The longing that Jess experiences is painfully visible to everyone but Angie, and both Margot and Ryan use this information against Jess. Told mainly from Jess’s perspective, her observant glance on her world resembles the illustrated world she creates with her manga characters. Aside from kissing and light touching, sexual interactions are implied, and there are only a few mentions of drugs and drinking. Give this to readers who like psychological thrillers with tension on every page.—Etienne Vallee.