Immoral Code

November 15, 2018
Five friends scheme to cybersteal college tuition money from a billionaire absentee father.Brilliant Oregon senior Bellamy gets into MIT early action, but she's denied financial aid--despite her working-class, single mother--because the father who abandoned her is a rich Silicon Valley CEO. Best friend Nari, an accomplished hacker, comes up with a plan to skim a seemingly undetectable fraction of each of his company's financial transactions until Bellamy has enough stashed in a secure account to at least enroll at MIT. Nari convinces Bellamy's squad--Nari's supportive technophobe boyfriend, Keagan; calm Olympic-hopeful diver Santiago; and adventurous artist Reese--to join the revenge heist, and the crew spends 33 days perfecting a cybercrime that requires distraction and breaking and entering at a high-security office building. The author manages to keep all five voices distinct and compelling. Any of the characters' lives would've made for an interesting stand-alone, and even the two embedded romances--one maturely established, one blossoming--are layered. The friends are also seamlessly diverse (San is first-generation Mexican-American; Nari is Japanese-American on her father's side, white on her mother's; Reese is asexual/aromantic; and Keagan and Bellamy are cued as white). Although the plot is a page-turner, the heist itself is less interesting than the nuanced friendship dynamics at play.This well-paced debut follows exceptionally smart, thoughtful, and loyal friends navigating the morally ambiguous areas of life. (Fiction. 12-18)

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2019

Gr 9 Up-Senior year was going great for computer genius Nari, deep-thinking Keagan, artsy Reese, Olympics hopeful Santiago, and science nerd extraordinaire Bellamy. Everyone had a plan for next year, whether it be going to a swanky college, traipsing around Europe, or learning a trade. That was until MIT refused Bellamy any financial aid because of her estranged rich father, a man she has never met and whom MIT assumed would foot the bill. Nari, with her masterful hacking computer skills, comes up with a plan. Since Bellamy's dad's company is so wealthy, a malware virus could siphon off a little money from each transaction to pay for MIT, since the tuition is small compared to the company's worth. The plan will only work if they all band together for Bellamy. The story is told in six alternating voices and features many of the teens' issues. The characters are all exceptionally quirky and brilliant about what they love. The narrative is peppered with techno-speak, science lingo, art terms, and some Spanish. It touches on poverty, privilege, entitlement, sexism, sexuality, parenting styles, teenage angst, and then some. While the bones of the narrative are good, the vast amount of information, even though well researched by the author, feels crammed in. Still, the high jinks of these Robin Hood-like will entertain and appeal to most readers. VERDICT Purchase for high school collections where there is a love of high-stakes heists or ensemble pieces.-Melyssa Kenney, Parkville High School, MD

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2018
Grades 9-12 Five devoted friends take ethics?and the law?into their own hands. Bellamy and her mom have struggled to make ends meet all of Bellamy's life. Her dad, who sends nominal child-support checks and left before Bellamy was born, is now a billionaire, and his net worth disqualifies Bellamy from getting financial aid from MIT, even though he's not in her life. Outraged by the unfairness, Bellamy's friends hatch a daring plan to steal tuition money from her father?enough to give Bellamy the future they feel she's owed. Hacker and tech genius Narioka is the ringleader and mastermind; free spirit Reese is on board to play the distraction; Olympics-bound diver and Bellamy's maybe-love Santiago is doing the legwork; and Keagan, the one with the most doubts, is driving the getaway car. Some characterizations in this five-part narration hinge on a few stereotypes, but this is a smart and fast-paced debut that will intrigue heist aficionados and modern-minded Robin Hoods. Have on hand for teens who like questions of moral complexity thrown in with their action sequences.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)