Lie by Caroline Bock

Lie looks at all the different ways people lie, to themselves, to others, by not saying what should be said, by changing the truth, more. Its the story of Skylar who had recently lost her beloved mother to cancer and had fallen into depression. Its about Jimmy who paid attention to her when she was down, who she thought she loved, who had a great hatred of people of different nationalities, who believed they were ruining the United States, stealing jobs from "good citizens". And, its about one night when Jimmy and a friendly boy named Sean, a follower to Jimmy's every lead beat two kids of Ecuadoran nationality, one a U.S. citizen, both legally in the U.S. Skylar, who had been following Jimmy in her own car, trying not to let him see her violating his rules of dating and relating, witnessed the beating. Perhaps her friend Lisa, also in the car with Skylar did as well. The younger boy caught a good enough description of one of the cars for the police to find it. One of the boy's dies of injuries sustained by the beating. Jimmy and Sean are arrested. Search for the truth begins with the kids in the know vowing silence. Sean who has been released on bail would turn on Jimmy so he could go free, have a life but the pressures build till he hangs himself. A visit by Skylar to Jimmy still imprisoned leaves her reeling. Her father can see the lies but doesn't know the truth, everyone must remain silent, not say anything. The news puts a human side on the family of the beaten boys, suddenly things don't seem so distant, unreal. Its not easy to remain silent. What will Skylar ultimately do? What will happen to Jimmy with his high priced lawyer going against a couple of poor Hispanics? Although readers will know how they want the story to end, it ends before everything is final leaving us to think about the lies, the hatred and the impact they had on all the lives of all the people involved, including the parents of all the kids.
jdw 4/18