"Just do this one thing for me." One thing? The division of labor in Drew's family goes like this: Mom manages a few shady side hustles, a thriving fake review business, and a lifelong obsession with Justin Timberlake; Drew is responsible for every other thing, including herself, her younger siblings, groceries, ukelele lessons, optometry, snowblowing, and generally solving all the problems the rest of the family creates. Drew is a planner, a rule follower, and mere months from leaving the chaos of her mother's world behind for the list-making, box-checking structure of the University of Wisconsin, which is why she agrees when the Momnipulator leaves her in charge while she takes a last-minute trip to a concert in Mexico City. What's one more "just on thing"? But when Heidi fails to return and her schemes begin to unravel, Drew finds herself in the middle of of the biggest mess of all -- and in a race to figure it all out before the thaw. She can either stick with her plans, do the responsible thing, and walk away alone. Or take over the cons, stay a step ahead, and just maybe hold her family together.

Stuck at the lake in the middle of a Wisconsin winter, Drew and his younger sister and brother struggle to stay together after their manipulative, con artist mother dies, which they can only do if they can keep her death a secret.

Ages 14 and up. Dutton Books.

Grades 10-12. Dutton Books.