Scholastic swoops for 'searing' Blaxill YA thriller

Scholastic has swooped for the “searing” new YA thriller from Carnegie-nominated author Gina Blaxill.

You Can Trust Me is billed as “a bold feminist read with a gripping thriller plot” about privilege, consent and complicity. Yasmin Morrissey, fiction commissioning editor, acquired world rights from Lydia Silver at the Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency. The book will publish in April 2022.

The synopsis states: “When Alana’s best friend is found drowned in a pool, the forensic reports discover date-rape drug GHB in her blood. GHB from a drink Alana knows was meant for her. Despite rumours, the suspected group of boys seem untouchable. To investigate, Alana allows herself to be pulled into their glittering orbit. But can she pinpoint who is responsible before she becomes their next target?

Gina Blaxill is an award-winning author whose novels include the Carnegie-nominated Saving Silence (Macmillan Children's) and, most recently, All the Better to See You (Scholastic), a dark teen twist on Little Red Riding Hood.

She said: “You Can Trust Me is both a reflection of my love of pacy thrillers and whodunit mysteries, but also the rage I know I’m not alone in feeling at the difficult, confusing, complex world girls and women are forced to navigate. With this book, I wanted to blend those things together, and I hope readers come away from it feeling as fired up as I do. I’m beyond thrilled that Scholastic share that vision. And if this book sparks conversations about the issues raised in the story, I’ll be even more thrilled."

Silver added: “Gina Blaxill is a brilliant thriller writer, but with You Can Trust Me, she shows that she also has a razor-sharp insight into issues that teenaged girls face on an almost daily basis. With more than half of all teenaged girls claiming that they’ve faced sexual harassment at school, the ideas and themes Gina explores here couldn’t be more necessary, and I’m thrilled that Scholastic are publishing such a brave, insightful book."

Morrissey commented: “You Can Trust Me is a story that gets under your skin – and stays there. The themes of the book are timely, necessary and powerful – and matched with Gina’s pacy and suspenseful prose, this is a standout new story in the YA thriller genre.”