ALA Booklist (Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

Fourteen-year-old Becca King hears ­whispers agments of other people's thoughts. Her stepfather, who has used her psychic talent to help him embezzle funds, realizes she has also heard some of his darker secrets. Oddly, most of this happens before the story starts, as if it was in a previous book. Consequently, when Becca and her mother, Laurel, wind up on the run, there's not much reader investment. Laurel puts Becca on a ferry to Whidbey Island in Washington State to hide out with a friend (the decision to let Becca go alone seems to be made solely to advance the plot), and, wow, that doesn't work out. The woman is dead, Becca must fend for herself, and what friends she makes have their own secrets and mysteries. George seems to be going for a Twin Peaks vibe here, and the Pacific Northwest setting is atmospheric. But the story becomes so convoluted that when it's time to sort out Becca's problems, we find they've been pushed to the sequel. What's best here are the characters, both young and adult. There are no stereotypes, and their humanity keeps the story moving, even when the plot is tied in knots. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: George, the popular author of many adult mysteries, plunges into the YA market, and her name recognition (and a major advertising campaign) may generate buzz.

Horn Book (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2013)

Hannah Armstrong hears "whispers." After hearing her stepfather's incriminating thoughts, she goes on the run--as Becca King--and finds refuge on Whidbey Island, Washington. In this isolated community Becca starts to deal with her psychic powers, forms relationships with an eclectic mix of other teens, and is embroiled in a mystery. This entertaining-enough paranormal romance/mystery series-opener suffers from pedestrian prose.

Kirkus Reviews

The bestselling author of the Inspector Lynley crime novels turns to teens with this paranormal-series opener. Fourteen-year-old Becca King finds herself stranded on Whidbey Island in Washington state, without family, friends or funds, and with an angry, murderous stepfather on her trail. Becca has the power to hear snippets of other people's thoughts, which is both a blessing and a curse. She finds a place to live, makes a few friends and starts high school, while waiting for her mother, gone to British Columbia to establish a safe home for them, to return to pick her up. Becca immediately connects with Derric, an adopted Ugandan boy who is a popular athlete and the son of the local undersheriff. Derric is injured in a fall and remains in a coma for much of the story; a police investigation into who might have pushed Derric off his hiking trail ensues. The mystery is slight and unlikely, with few clues, and the investigation and Derric's stay in the hospital drag on for too long. Derric's ethnicity is frankly exoticized, with far too many references to the "handsome black boy" and "eyes as dark as the nighttime of his skin." Lacking vampires, werewolves and a compelling mystery, this will be of most interest to persistent readers of teen sagas set in the Pacific Northwest. (Paranormal mystery. 12 & up)

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

Smelcer (Lone Wolves) gives readers a crash course in Alaskan history, geography, and lore in a survival story, first published in the U.K., that pits a teenager against nature-s indifference. Overweight 16-year-old Seth Evanoff is -soft- and -lazy- in the eyes of his fisherman father, who tells his son, -You wouldn-t last a day in the wilderness,- just before Seth and his dog are washed overboard during a fishing expedition. The third-person narration, decidedly adult in its perspective and tone, alternates between Seth-s struggle to survive and his widowed father-s agony as he searches for his son. Tense encounters with bears and killer whales add to the already substantial tension, and Smelcer makes Seth resourceful without being a wonderboy-unable to make a fire, he necessarily develops a taste for raw salmon, mussels, and clams. Survival information (often gleaned from what Seth-s father taught him) and Alutiiq words that Seth has learned from his grandmother are incorporated throughout. While Smelcer hammers themes of mankind-s fractured relationship with nature a bit hard, it-s a thought-provoking and moving coming-of-age story. Ages 12-up. (Aug.)

School Library Journal (Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

Gr 7 Up-George makes her YA debut in this series opener. Becca King and her mom are on the run from her stepfather, who has used Becca's ability to hear what other people are thinking to make illegal money. Becca is to find refuge in the home of her mother's friend on Whidbey Island, near Seattle. Meanwhile, Becca's mother is to continue on to Canada in search of safety. Things don't go as planned when no one is there to pick Becca up at the ferry. She is taken in by Debbie Grieber, a woman who runs a motel and has a strange past. She meets Derric Nyombe, a 16-year-old Ugandan orphan who was adopted by the town's deputy sheriff when he was 10. He has a secret that no one on the island knows about, and Becca thinks she is the only person who can help him. Several other characters have their own troubles. All of these issues collide when Derric has a terrible accident. The book leaves readers wondering if Becca will continue to live her life on the run. George has created an interesting set of characters and plot twists that teenagers who like adventure and mysteries will enjoy. Shannon Seglin, Patrick Henry Library, Vienna, VA