The Almost Truth by Eileen Cook • contains 246 pages • published 4. December 2012 by Simon Pulse • classified as Contemporary, Mystery, Young Adult • obtained through library • read as hardcover • shelve on Goodreads • shelve on The StoryGraph
Synopsis:
Teen con artist Sadie might be over her head. To escape her backwards small town, delusional mom, jailbird dad, and the tiny trailer where she was raised, she also must leave Brendan. Sadie wants a better life, and she has been working steadily toward it, one con at a time, until her mother wipes out her savings.
Brendan helps devise ultimate con. But the more lies Sadie spins, the more she starts falling for her own hoax, and perhaps for the wrong boy. Sadie wanted to change her life, but she wasn't prepared to have it flipped upside down by her own deception. With her future at stake and her heart on the line, she suddenly has more than just money to lose.
I think The Almost Truth is a great book for times when nothing but a light-hearted book will do. We all know those days when we want to read but our minds just won’t focus on anything that requires us to think all too much for ourselves. Not to knock The Almost Truth for being light-hearted; it’s just that the roadmap of a plot was extremely clear for a book that reads like a mystery. I easily predicted almost every turn in events, such that what should have been plot twists hardly surprised me.
Sadie was a likeable character with a believable voice. Despite her lies and con activities, I could relate to her as a reader. She had ambition and never let her goals out of her sight. Her relationship with her best friend, Brendan, was complex and I appreciated the nuances that were brought out between them. Their relationship deviated from the strict camps of pure platonic friendship and full on romance. Eileen Cook’s decision to explore the in-between fit well with Sadie as a character who didn’t have qualms cheating people out of a few bucks but never more on principle. Sadie knew she wasn’t right to cheat people but she also knew what she thought was wrong.
The Almost Truth was a quick read once I got down to it proper. The narrative flowed and the plot didn’t slow down at any point. Besides Sadie though, I didn’t really feel like I got to know the other characters much. They waltzed in and out of various scenes but beyond their actions and a few words, there wasn’t much to them. Then when I came to the last couple of chapters, I felt like these weren’t nearly as developed as the preceding chapters. They came across like plot points simply strung up to conclude the book. Instead of seizing the end to create more depth, I felt they were appended in order to come to a resolution. That kind of sucked a bit of my appreciation out of the creativity that The Almost Truth was based on. After all, it’s not everyday that I get to peer into the head of a con artist.
It’s great when you like the main character, but when that’s the only character you really get to know it’s kind of a let down. Did you get to know the other love interest very much? I do enjoy reading light-hearted books though, especially now during summer break when I have no homework =)
Yeah, I like it when I get to know the main character AND supporting characters. It brings the relationships between them to life and that’s what helps me get into stories. As a whole, I think the characters were only developed enough to carry the plot, and not more, regardless of love interest or not. Still, if you’re looking for light-hearted reads, this one fits the bill :)