I have commented over the years on suspenseful young adult reads by April Henry like Eyes of the Forest or The Girl I Used to Be and STAY DEAD is another gripping mystery from this prolific, talented author. Sixteen-year-old Milan (great name, right?) has just been expelled from her third boarding school after the death of her Dad, Senator and environmentalist, Jack Mayhew. She and her Mom, Heather, who is now the serving Senator, are with staff aboard a private plane when it crashes. As the only survivor, Milan must rely on quick thinking and her past hiking experiences to beat the cold, the snow, and an animal predator as she struggles to get to Portland, Oregon and the only person her Mom told her to trust. That hazardous journey is exciting enough, but Henry treats readers to added perspective from Lenny, the woman hired to kill Milan and her parents, plus details from Jane, a dairy farmer dealing with the consequences of allowing fracking to occur on her farmland. The pace is quick – and Milan needs to draw on inner resources, remembering a favorite quote of her Mom’s from Amelia Earhart: “The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity.” In her acknowledgments, Henry sounds super curious and adventuresome herself; she says, “as a writer, I've done many things for research, but probably the most intense was a three-day course called Urban Escape and Evasion. The final day of class you are kidnapped; hooded, cuffed, and mouth duct-taped.… You must use all your newly learned skills to escape...” Wow – that is serious research! And her adrenaline-charged writing reflects it. Enjoy!
Also wanted to note this quote... from another character who reflects on his departed wife: “She just got to heaven a little sooner than me, … she always liked to be early to things.”
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