Book Review: Endangered by Lamar Giles

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Endangered
Author: Lamar Giles
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genres: Mystery | Thriller
Release Date: April 21st 2015
Review Source: Harper Teen

Her name is Lauren, but everyone calls her Panda.

What they don't know is that behind their backs, she also goes by Gray. As in Gray Scales, the photoblog that her classmates are addicted to because of the secrets Gray exposes: a jock buying drugs, a teacher in a compromising position, a rich girl shoplifting. But no one knows Panda's the vigilante photographer behind it all. At least, she thinks no one knows—until she gets a note from the Admirer, who's not only caught her red-handed acting as Gray but also threatens to reveal everything unless Panda plays a little game of Dare or . . . Dare.

Panda plays along. Anything to keep the secret she's protected for years.

But when the game turns deadly, Panda doesn't know what to do. And she might need to step out of the shadows to save herself . . . and everyone else on the Admirer's hit list, including some of the classmates she's loathed and exposed for years.

This is the second book I’ve read by Lamar Giles, and I have to say I really like his stuff. At first glance, though, I thought Endangered was a sequel to Fake ID, but it is its own story entirely, and what a good one it is.

Lauren, or better known as Panda, is a Hall Ghost. She has mastered the art of blending in and going unnoticed. She does this because she is actually Gray - an online blog that works on exposing the worst Portside has to offer. She would never tell anyone, though, not even her best friend, Mei, better known as Ocie. Then someone starts playing games. Seeing who can top the other’s photography. Things escalate quickly. One of her recent exposés gets murdered, and Ocie is seriously injured, and Gray is revealed for her true self. Now Panda has to track down whoever has been playing games with her is.

This book, very similarly to Fake ID, keeps the story rolling without too much and too little suspense. It keeps you reading and wanting to figure out “who dunnit” before the author actually tells you and at the end is a surprise anyway.

Another consistent thing this author does is not giving me satisfying endings. If it weren’t for that, this book would get 5 trees. From me, anyway. It’s almost as if the crime is solved, and that’s it. You don’t really get much past that, and the relationships in the book just fall a little flat.