Wicked Things by John Allison and Max Sarin
BOOM! Box / BOOM! Studios
Publication Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 9781684156061
Everyone’s favorite supernatural detective, Lottie Grote, is back and ready to show the world who the best detective is! Fresh from her time in John Allison’s Giant Days and Bad Machinery series, Lottie is now 19 years old and wanting to start her dream life off right. She’s on her way to Oxford, ready to be on her own, and on top of that, she’s finally being recognized for her years of stellar detective work by being nominated for the National Solver’s Teen Detective of the Year Award. But, things go horribly awry when Charlotte is framed for attempted murder at the very awards ceremony where she was going to wow them all. Her choice: go to jail or join up with the local police to try and clear her name. She decides she’ll show them all just how talented of a detective she really is or maybe just how well she can fix everyone a nice cuppa.
Wicked Things is a fun, full-of-mystery story detailing a young person on their own for the first time. The parallels of being in a place where she’s having to prove herself and surrounded by new and interesting people to the teen and young adult experience is a perfect match. Lottie is a fun and relatable character as well as a great sleuth who thinks outside the box. She’s finding her place in a world where she doesn’t quite feel like she fits in. And, after leaving her friends from the Bad Machinery days, she wants to make her mark in the work by showcasing her greatest love—solving mysteries! Growing up is hard enough, but trying to prove you didn’t try and murder your greatest inspiration, well that’s just the worst!
Recommend this to fans of John Allison’s work including Bad Machinery, Steeple, and Giant Days.
—Traci Glass
Other Nominated Titles
- Feelings by Manjit Thapp (March 2, 2021)
- The Tea Dragon Tapestry by Katie O’Neill (June 1, 2021)
The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the field nomination form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.
Each week, the teams will feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation will be listed as well. At year’s end, the team will use that list of nominated titles to select a final list and Top Ten. The previous years’ lists are also made available on The Hub.
