Publisher : Tor Teen (February 2, 2021)
Language: : English
Hardcover : 352 pages
ISBN-10 : 1250175879
ISBN-13 : 978-1250175878
Praise for THE DECEIVERS
“Brilliantly plotted, tightly paced, and intensely smart. The Deceivers is the perfect con, full of clever characters, untrustworthy romance, and lie after lie after lie, with just enough truth tossed in to make you question everything. Kristen Simmons is a deceptive genius. I could not devour this book fast enough.” —Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval
“Beneath its quick and clever dialogue, The Deceivers examines the moral grey area between good and evil. Lying has never seemed so much fun.” —Katharine McGee, New York Times bestselling author of the Thousandth Floor Trilogy
“Masterful, suspenseful, and brilliantly executed, The Deceivers is the perfect con. Kristen Simmons is an outstanding storyteller, and this is her best yet.” —Amie Kaufman, New York Timesbestselling author of Illuminae and These Broken Stars
“Addictive and delicious, The Deceivers will keep you turning the pages well into the night!” —Katie McGarry, critically acclaimed author of Pushing the Limits
“Brynn is a sharp, analytical thinker with a soft heart – the exact kind of protagonist I love rooting for, especially as villains and heroes creep out from places I don’t expect…Even the prerequisite romance was a pleasant surprise as Brynn and her love interest show complete respect for one another, giving enthusiastic consent the front seat it absolutely deserves and yet feels underrepresented in young adult literature. I devoured this book in one big gulp because I couldn’t wait to see what twists and turns were ahead.” —Kelly Morton, Joseph-Beth Booksellers
“The Deceivers is a perfectly paced, high stakes read that is honestly super fun for the reader. Don’t plan on putting it down in the middle to do other things, you’ll want to keep reading. Simmons has outdone herself with this incredible new story about con artists and a girl trying to find her own path.” —Rachel Strolle, Teen Librarian, Glenside Public Library District
EXCERPT
“I’m not feeling it.”
Henry Kowalski, the hustler with a heart of gold, rakes his blond hair to one side—a sign I’ve come to recognize as a nervous tic—as I track two men hurrying through the dark across the parking lot of the NightStar Canning warehouse. They knock on a rusted door marked “Employees Only,” and after a quick exchange with a big, burly bouncer, disappear inside, just like the dozen others that came before.
“You’ve got this,” I tell Henry, pulling him behind the corrugated metal wall of NightStar’s smoke shack, a free-standing structure twenty yards from the back entrance. “Just follow my lead.”
He shifts, the leather jacket he got for tonight creaking against my shoulder. It’s faded at the stress points. I know this, because he pointed it out no less than six times. It’s supposed to make him look tough.
Now he just needs to act that way.
“No, I know,” he says, smoothing down the wild waves of my dark, chin-length hair and absently straightening the collar of my coat. “But what if instead of me being your cousin, I’m a young entrepreneur who’s gotten rich off developing this app—”
“No.”
“Just listen. It connects athletes with personalized eating tips and hot new workout attire trends—”
“No.”
Copyright © 2021 by Kristen Simmons
The unpredictable truth will be revealed in Payback, the stunning conclusion to Kristen Simmons’ Edgar-nominated thriller series that started with The Deceivers…
Brynn Hilder has conned a lot of people. From the spoiled rich kids of Sikawa City to her mom’s loser ex-boyfriend, from a motorcycle gang to a senator’s son. If there was money to be gained, or a secret to uncover, she figured out how to get it done. And thanks to Vale Hall and its director, Dr. David Odin, she’s found a family of hustlers just like her.
Together, Brynn and her friends have overcome doubt, deceit, and betrayal to unearth the truth–a truth even a group of professional scammers couldn’t have predicted.
And now they must tackle the biggest con artist of them all: the man who brought them all together.
Critically-acclaimed young adult author Kristen Simmons has worked with survivors of abuse and trauma as a mental health therapist, taught Jazzercise in five states, and is forever in search of the next best cupcake. Currently she lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband, where she spends her days supporting the caffeine industry and chasing her son.
