The Almost Truth is my first Eileen Cook novel and I waltzed into it armed with nothing but the heady feeling of reading a book by a local author. Ever since I started my Masters program, I have been meeting a lot of local authors who write for children and young adults and for the first time ever, I feel a certain fascination with these brilliant people who dig deep into themselves and produce such startling results. Even though I may not personally love all the books I read, I still respect that they write. Anyway, on to the review proper.The Almost Truth presents a plot that has almost certainly been seen in previous young adult novels. The protagonist is a con artist doing small time cons to supplement her wages so that she can escape the poverty that has ruled her life. When her mother “borrows” the money she had been saving, taking away her chance to escape, Sadie decides to run the biggest con of her life. She sees a poster for a missing child whom she happens to resemble and decides that hey, easy money. I remember reading a book by Lisa McMann that dealt with the same premise with various differences, of course.What I liked about this book is the angle the author takes to present the premise. The angle is skewed, instead of conning the parents, the main characters decide to be different. I won’t tell you how – for that you have to read but just know that it’s different and it’s interesting. I really liked Sadie as a character. She has a tough life and she has some very obvious flaws but she doesn’t dither and she doesn’t give in to pathos. There is angst but I found it refreshingly juxtaposed with some good sense. The book explores themes of identity and social status. It questions the value of money and the bonds between people whether related by blood or otherwise. The book is quite short so the pacing is very brisk and this works until the very end which I will talk about later.The romance is interesting but I don’t think the love triangle was particularly necessary in this instance. Cook could have devoted the same time to developing Sadie’s increasing awareness of the wrongness in her life especially since that love triangle somehow fizzled away without adding much to the primary narrative. It also introduced an inconsistency to the character that was at odds with the way he was presented. Also, I liked Brendan a lot and I think more time could have been spent developing the relationship between him and Sadie.I did not agree with how things pan out in the end and this is probably just me. I am not very forgiving and I thought that the whole issue wrapped up a bit too neatly for my tastes. I wanted some blood, to be honest. I also wanted to know what happens after the book ends – Sadie is such a strong character that I wanted to accompany her on this new journey she was setting out on and I was slightly miffed that I wouldn’t be able to (noooo!!).However, after everything is said and done, The Almost Truth is extremely readable. It is short and packs quite a punch. It is entertaining but also has depth in the questions it asks its readers. So while I do have some minor quibbles with it, I recommend it.
