  | Pick the lock Author: King, A. S. | |
| Price: $23.98 | ||
Summary:
As Jane's mother tours the world to support the family, Jane lives and goes to school in a Victorian mansion with her younger brother and their mendacious father, who confines Jane's mother to a system of pneumatic tubes whenever she's at home. And then there's weirdly ever-present Aunt Finch, Milorad the gardener, and his rat, Brutus. For Jane, this all seems normal until she gains access to the files for a lifetime of security camera videos -- her lifetime.
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (07/01/24)
School Library Journal (09/23/24)
Booklist (+) (07/01/24)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (+) (00/09/24)
The Hornbook (+) (07/01/24)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 07/01/2024 *Starred Review* “I do not lie to God,” 16-year-old Jane asserts. However, her father lies to God. All the time.” Indeed, every word out of his mouth, including and and the, is a lie. He is the uncrowned king of the liar people and a tyrant to boot, having promulgated countless rules that Jane and her four-years-younger brother, Henry, must obey. For example, they are forbidden to leave the property, which means they’re homeschooled by Vernon. No music is permitted in the house, which is ironic, because Jane’s mother, Mina Placenta, is an internationally known rock star, who—when she’s not touring—is confined to the tubes, a pneumatic system that runs throughout the house. Jane and Henry have been raised by Vernon to treat their mother with contempt and dismiss her as “a flake.” Secrets and lies prevail until Jane learns the hard-edged truth when she begins screening tapes from the security cameras sprinkled throughout the house. Will the truth set her free? Printz Award–winning King has written another remarkable, character-driven book that dazzles with its originality. With that and its employment of fantastical surrealism, it is sui generis, and at 400-plus pages, it is one of King’s most ambitious, and most successful, books. And that, God knows, is no lie. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.
