Is it possible? Kaylee has been asking herself that her whole life. Her birth mother, Crystal, first gained fame for her alleged telekinetic ability, and then infamy when she was convicted of murdering her infant son ylee's younger brother. With Crystal serving a life sentence, Kaylee was adopted into a loving home to live a more normal life. That is, until The Possible, a hit investigative podcast, chooses to focus on Crystal's case more than a decade after the conviction. All of a sudden, people begin questioning Kaylee about what she remembers from the trial, or if she has powers, too. Altebrando has penned a fast-paced thriller that is less a Dan Brown style adventure and more of a psychological examination. At play is how Kaylee's seemingly mundane world is ripped apart by gossip, secrets, and her own curiosity about a birth mother she barely knows. Altebrando manages Kaylee's relationships with her parents, friends, and the gossiping public masterfully, tossing in unique twists to keep readers on their toes. Fans of true-crime podcasts especially will feel right at home.

Kaylee's birth mother, Crystal, claimed telekinetic powers before she was convicted of murdering Kaylee's little brother, Jack; 13 years later, Liana, a journalist revisiting the story for her podcast, wants to know if Kaylee's inherited Crystal's ability. Kaylee's suppressed her memories of her early years with Crystal, serving a life sentence in a Pennsylvania penitentiary, but still dreams of Jack and suspects Crystal's claims were valid and that she may have inherited them. Against her parents' wishes, Kaylee agrees to be interviewed for the podcast if Liana will take her to see Crystal. As episodes go live, Kaylee becomes a celebrity at school and the swim club where she's a lifeguard. She leverages her fame to attract a boy but takes friends (including Aiden, who wants to be more) for granted. Unsure of her powers, Kaylee still enjoys the attention—even when it's more fear than popularity. Plot twists entertain, but the story's weakened by its superficial, insensitive portrayal of adoption. The juxtaposition of Kaylee's world of white suburban affluence, where everyone belongs to the swim club, and Crystal's foreshortened world, from impoverished childhood to prison, is stark. Well-heeled characters seem indifferent to the less-privileged; Crystal, brutal and brutalized, is treated with contempt. Kaylee's occasional reflections on her birth mother's privations, seemingly intended to convey her empathy, are belied by her cruelty to Crystal. A narrative deaf to adoption's difficult complexities: the ties that may no longer bind but never disappear. (Fiction. 14-17)

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)