Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé's Where Sleeping Girls Lie is an outstanding slow-burn YA mystery featuring a Black Muslim teen who uncovers secrets at her prestigious boarding school after her roommate goes missing.
Sade Hussein is starting her junior year of high school at Alfred Nobel Academy, an elite boarding school in England. Sade, who has been homeschooled her entire life, is eager and nervous to be around other students her age. When she meets her new roommate, Elizabeth Wang, and Elizabeth's best friend, Baz, Sade is excited that she might make some friends. But Elizabeth goes missing the first night of school and rumors start to swirl that Sade is the culprit. When an e-mail surfaces stating that Elizabeth is with a family member, Baz becomes skeptical and decides that he and Sade should investigate on their own. As they dig, they find hidden in every corner and under every surface the ever more dangerous and upsetting secrets of Alfred Nobel's most prestigious students.
Àbíké-Íyímídé (Ace of Spades) gracefully discusses privilege, guilt, suicide, sexual assault, and death in short, accessible chapters. The third-person point of view includes texts, transcripts, and mysterious first-person diary entries entitled "I Sleep, I Drown & Disappear." Sade unravels mysteries at a breakneck speed, revealing an abundance of gut-punching coded revelations that will likely shock and thrill readers. Where Sleeping Girls Lie is a beautifully written coming-of-age mystery that should appeal to fans of Tiffany Jackson, Kara Thomas, and Jumata Emill. --Natasha Harris, freelance reviewer