Twenty Questions for Gloria

Reviewed by: Brooke Faulkner - McArthur Public Library, Biddeford, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: July 12, 2016

Review

Fifteen-year-old Gloria is questioned by DI Ryan, a sympathetic but persistent police detective after she emerges after disappearing for weeks with Uman, a boy who'd mysteriously appeared as a transfer student at her conservative English high school, amicably challenging the teachers on their rules and immediately making it clear that he was interested in Gloria, who is smart and curious, but has been sleepwalking through the past few years of her life.

As DI Ryan puts a series of twenty questions to her over the course of several days, readers learn that Gloria and Uman disappeared together but only Gloria has returned and are unsure until the very end what happened to Uman, who the police suspect had abducted her, or at the very least manipulated her into running away.

Told as a series of flashbacks from their time together, this is a suspenseful and thoughtful novel about the nature of growing up, first love and the fear many teens have of losing some part of themselves as they age. Gloria and her family are realistically painted characters and her emotional attachment to and easy, clever banter with Uman is believable and sweetly real. As they stumble into increasingly dangerous situations, which is compounded by the racism Uman faces due to his Turkish Arabic background, readers will hope for their safety even as they fear the worst.

Overall Book Score: very good