Bet Your Life (Jess Tennant Mysteries) - Hardcover

Casey, Jane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1250040663 ISBN 13: 9781250040664

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2015

Synopsis

Jess Tennant has now been living in a tiny town on the English seaside for three months, and is just beginning to relax and think of it as home after the traumatic events of last summer. But in the small hours of Halloween night, a teenage boy is left for dead by the side of the road. Seb Dawson has a serious head injury and may not survive. Jess might not have liked Seb much, but surely he didn't deserve this. The police don't seem to be taking the attack very seriously, but Jess can't just let it go, and she takes matters into her own hands.

As she investigates, Jess discovers that Seb was involved in some very dangerous games. A secret predator around girls, he would do whatever it took to abuse them, from lying and blackmail to spiking drinks. Could a group of vengeful victims be behind his attack? Or is there someone else with a grudge against Seb, who will stop at nothing to silence him? Jane Casey returns with another edge-of-your-seat mystery in Bet Your Life.

About this title

About the Author:

JANE CASEY was born and raised in Dublin. A graduate of Oxford with a master's of philosophy from Trinity College, Dublin, she lives in London, where she works as an editor. Bet Your Life is her second YA novel.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 9 Up—In this second Jess Tennant mystery, it's Halloween and the brutal beating of a fellow student has Jess playing sleuth again. Though the altercation nearly killed Seb Dawson, Jess is hard-pressed to find someone who's actually broken up about it. Most students, and even Seb's stepmother, believe he had it coming due to his not-so-funny mean pranks and nicknames, but Jess takes the case anyway as a favor to his younger half-sister. What she finds is evidence of a wealthy bully with a trail of girls and women alike who count themselves victims of Seb's blackmail. She's all but confirmed her suspicions about who's to blame for Seb's head trauma when she finds herself fighting for her life. A near-death-by-fire encounter brings her and policeman Dan Henderson, her ex-boyfriend's father, closer and also complicates her personal life with on-again-off-again boyfriend Will. And just when she thought she was finally settling into Port Sentinel, her absentee father decides to move to town to woo her mother back post-divorce, guaranteeing a sequel. Casey has really grown into writing for teens with this second installment. The characterization is better, and the coverage of the party scene, and the fashion commentary were all well done. The balance between the mystery and Jess's complicated love life add to the intriguing stories of the many secondary characters make this a worthy purchase for school and public libraries.—Samantha Lumetta, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1250040663
• ISBN 13: 9781250040664
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336