FAKE

Who is Charlie Scott? Jess finds a tag bearing this name hidden within her family trunk. However when she begins her search, it seems the trail goes cold. Then again, Jess is an able searcher and ‘cyber spy’. She’s been honing her skills for years upon her father’s secret port- com. What’s more, Jess has brought the device to school where she continues to crack codes that JP sets her though in the dead of the secret night. It seems she always covers her tracks, doesn’t she?

School is a strange experience for Jess. She’s been home schooled until now, aged fourteen, when she’s gained a place at a prestigious cyber school. It seems her class mates come from wealthier families than her, which means they can order rapid drone supplies at a drop of a hat. However, the rules and rigour of the school are the same for everyone. It seems only music and then contact with her parents, and little sister, Chloe, make Jess feel content. Then again, Chloe’s health worries her. She needs constant medical support but the prices are increasing rapidly. So when her parents are suddenly disabled from all cyber life and contact it means they appear to no longer exist. What has happened? Might it be something to do with Charlie Scott? Or even to do with Jess’s secret hacking…. What is happening?

Once again, Ele Fountain presents an urgent, accessible story around a subject that matters. What’s more FAKE is highly plausible, too plausible, so that we feel powerless and worried for Jess and Chloe. We worry about who she can trust and then how much anyone knows. Bookwagon recommends FAKE highly to thoughtful, devoted, mature readers.