Redemption Prep

February 1, 2020

Gr 7 Up-Miller takes on the boarding school trope with mixed results. Students at Redemption Prep are all exceptional in some way-plucked from their ordinary lives and sent, tuition-free, to the revered school in the wilds of Utah. Emma's published a book of poetry, Evan can beat computers at chess, Aiden is a basketball champion, Neesha is a science genius-the list of accomplished students is never-ending and intimidating. When Emma disappears, her friends scramble to find her, all while dealing with the high-stakes atmosphere at Redemption, where succeeding can mean a jump-started, lucrative career and failure equals expulsion and a return to a family no longer familiar. Neesha, Aiden, and Evan parse clues and duck menacing maintenance workers, all while trying to avoid Redemption's unwavering scrutiny. They learn more about their friend's life, and their place in it, as they search for Emma. Readers will enjoy this 1990-set mystery, particularly the evocative, foggy, remote Utah setting. The ins and outs of the school-why students were selected, details of the pressure and accolades-will keep readers engaged. Shifting points of view work to some extent, and Evan's perspective, in particular, is well done. The villain's motive is surprising and a bit unfounded, and the conclusion doesn't coalesce as much as one would hope. VERDICT Fans of Maureen Johnson's "Truly Devious" trilogy and John Green's Looking for Alaska will enjoy this mostly entertaining mystery that takes a close look at the pressures of student life.-Elissa Bongiorno, Washington, DC

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2020
In a remote part of Utah, in a "temple of excellence," the best of the best are recruited to nurture their talents. Redemption Preparatory is a cross between the Vatican and a top-secret research facility: The school is rooted in Christian ideology (but very few students are Christian), Mass is compulsory, cameras capture everything, and "maintenance" workers carry Tasers. When talented poet Emma disappears, three students, distrusting of the school administration, launch their own investigation. Brilliant chemist Neesha believes Emma has run away to avoid taking the heat for the duo's illegal drug enterprise. Her boyfriend, an athlete called Aiden, naturally wants to find her. Evan, a chess prodigy who relies on patterns and has difficulty processing social signals, believes he knows Emma better than anyone. While the school is an insidious character on its own and the big reveal is slightly psychologically disturbing, Evan's positioning as a tragic hero with an uncertain fate--which is connected to his stalking of Emma (even before her disappearance)--is far more unsettling. The '90s setting provides the backdrop for tongue-in-cheek technological references but doesn't do anything for the plot. Student testimonials and voice-to-text transcripts punctuate the three-way third-person narration that alternates among Neesha, Evan, and Aiden. Emma, Aiden, and Evan are assumed to be white; Neesha is Indian. Students are from all over the world, including Asia and the Middle East. Only marginally intriguing. (Mystery. 15-18)

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March 2, 2020
When popular Emmalynn Donahue goes missing from elite Redemption Prep in 1995, it sparks a campus-wide manhunt as well as concern among friends and rivals at the Christian school, located on a remote Utah mountain. Among those concerned are her boyfriend, basketball star Aiden; her roommate, Neesha; and Evan, a student who’s been stalking her. Did Emma find a way to escape the school, or was she taken? Was her vanishing connected to her selling an experimental study drug to most of the student body? As the mystery behind Emma’s disappearance deepens, other secrets—including Redemption’s strange past and true purpose—come to light, prompting Aiden, Neesha, and their new allies to seek answers and explanations at any cost. Miller (A Lite Too Bright) crafts an unpredictable, twisty story of ambition, competition, and manipulation. While a multiperspective approach, coupled with interview transcripts and student journal entries, allows Miller to get inside his characters’ heads, slow pacing and a sometimes meandering story line may keep readers from becoming fully invested in the mystery. Ages 13–up.

November 15, 2019
Grades 9-12 Built on an isolated mountain in Utah, Redemption Prep was founded by five scientists upon a religious manifesto ("rooted in the worship of Jesus Christ"). As they pursued their research, they recruited students, handpicking teenagers with exceptional minds. Emma, deeply religious and a skilled poet, is one of those students; from a troubled home, she never leaves the school. On campus, she's a central figure: she dates basketball star Aiden, she's an object of obsession for strange and isolated Evan, and, with her roommate, Neesha, she launches an under-the-radar program that has half the school hooked. So when she disappears, everyone notices. And as her friends?and others?try desperately to find her, they begin to understand that Redemption Prep is not all it claims to be. Set in the mid-'90s, peppered with religious imagery, and interspersed with testimonials from each of the teens, Miller's sophomore novel (A Lite Too Bright, 2018) can sometimes feel disjointed. Still, the moody atmosphere, the science/religion dichotomy, and the constant cliff-hangers will keep readers hooked till the shocking finale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)