The Masked Truth Hardcover – October 13, 2015

From my blogI saw this book on a few Top Ten lists and thought I would try it. I haven't read a Kelley Armstrong book before so I didn't know what to expect. A thriller, yes, it had me on the edge of my seat at times, completely engaged. I am not a YA fan and didn't realize it was but the author did a great job in my favourite genre of choice, thriller. A great way to end the year of reading.The book started with a BAM and I couldn't think how is this going to be executed, obviously it is way more to it than the summary, the thrill starts early.Riley is babysitting when killers come in and murder the child's parents. She is now going to therapy to deal with the anxiety, survivors guilt they also call it. She then goes to an overnight camp for a few teenagers to do joint therapy. Well before they get started masked men come in to overtake the therapy session as a hostage overnighter, it all turns deadly, bloody, scary, quickly with everyone running around an old building for survival. Max, another teenager grabs hold of Riley and forces her to run with him.Teenagers in therapy now watching each other get injured and dying, really feels like a mind game of madness, how could some be going through this kind of thing again. Max has found a way to calm himself, he is a little bit of a wordsmith. Always has words in his head, coming up with their meanings.Gregarious: fond of company. Convivial: cheerful and friendly; jovial.Gregarious but not too convivial. Yes, there was a difference.Max realized this also distracted him from focusing and making him wonder if he is in control of his thoughts or not. I am not sure if it is because I do not read YA often but I loved Max and Riley. They become partners to watch over each other. They reminded me of Hazel and Augustus in the Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Just something special about them.You are only half way done in the book it looks like a glimmer of hope and then the whole book changes. Who is the unreliable character, Riley or Max or is the author manipulating you to think the way she wants you to. Brilliant execution, really well done, I didn't know where she was going with the story but I can't say anymore but the Masked Truth is revealed. A remarkable thriller, I wish it was an adult thriller but not a deal breaker. I enjoyed the ending overall also, not all tidy, real life.

THE MASKED TRUTH was an intense thriller. Seventeen-year-old Riley Vasquez is going through a really hard patch in her life. Her police officer father was killed in the line of duty eighteen months previous to this story. Riley was also babysitting one evening when there was a home invasion and the parents of her charge were killed. Riley and the child hid under the bed upstairs and escaped injury. But Riley is suffering from guilt that she didn't do anything but hide which has led to anxiety, depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She has been going through therapy to deal with the trauma.She is convinced by her mother and her therapist Aimee to attend a weekend counseling session at an old warehouse that is undergoing conversion to office space. When she arrives, the only other kid she knows is Max Cross who has been at her other group sessions with this therapist and who has sat on the side and made sniping comments.Max is eighteen and found his charmed life gravely disrupted when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He is bright, articulate, good-lucking and has a brain that is betraying him. His mother moved them from Great Britain after an incident where he almost strangled his best friend. His doctors have been trying to find the right kinds and dosages of medicine to keep him stable. He is in therapy to try to come to terms with the way his life is now.The kids no sooner arrive for the weekend session when it is invaded by men in rubber masks. They say that they are holding the kids for ransom. Aaron, one of the other kids there, has a rich father. When one of the kids panics and attacks the gunmen, chaos erupts that leads to dead kids, dead therapists, dead kidnappers, and Riley and Max playing a deadly game of hide and seek in the warehouse.Max and Riley need to depend on each other for their survival. But when they finally escape the warehouse, their nightmare weekend isn't over.This was a great thriller told from both Max and Riley's points of view. I couldn't put it down as I raced through the pages to find out what was going on and what was going to happen to Riley and Max. I thought it gave an excellent portrayal of mental illness and the way it affects the way a person thinks and lives.

But, that isn't a bad thing. This book is NOT a normal Armstrong urban fantasy. This is a window into hell... the hell of mental illness and survival.The mystery, the thrill is there, so is humanity, pain, humor, love and tears. For me it was a difficult read. I've lived with a schizophrenic who tossed her meds down the john. I was the observer who couldn't fix it ... later in my life I was mugged and have dealt with PTSD for years. The panic moments are well depicted. The scary moments when you are watching someone's mood flip and flop and you question if you are safe or do you need to run.There are such obnoxious preconceptions and assumptions about what the diagnoses entail, what they mean to the folks living with them. Our culture short changes mental health and the individuality of each brain and how it functions. There are good days and bad days. Thank you Kelley Armstrong for opening into an under explored realm with grace.And some days, when we are lucky, everything is right as rain.