Mistaken Identity

Sheree Haughian is an elementary-school teacher-librarian in
Orangeville, Ontario.

When 16-year-old Zanny Dugan’s father is found dead in the living room
in Birks Falls, USA, the teenager enters a kind of twilight zone. Was
her father’s death really the result of suicide? Why are federal
agents taking such a special interest in the case? Was her father really
an ordinary hospital orderly who just happened to move around the
country a lot? Ultimately, who is she and whom can she trust?

Like adult thrillers of its type, Mistaken Identity attempts to keep
the protagonist and the reader in a suspended state of uncertainty. What
is initially accepted as truth has the habit of being undercut by the
revelation of yet another tidbit of information from the past, yet
another character who somehow fits into the puzzle. This novel seems to
take its cue from the popular bestseller market. Incidents certainly
outnumber insights, but it’s very likely that many young-adult readers
may not consider this to be a flaw. Recommended with reservations.