Book Summary and Reviews of No One Left But You by Tash McAdam

No One Left But You by Tash McAdam

No One Left But You

by Tash McAdam

  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • Published:
  • Nov 2023, 288 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A trans teen is swept up in a whirlwind friendship with lethal consequences in this taut YA thriller, for fans of Sadie, Andrew Joseph White, and HBO's Euphoria.

BEFORE. Newly out trans guy Max is having a hard time in school. Things have been tough since his summer romance, Danny, turned into his bully. This year, his plan is to keep his head down and graduate. All that changes when new It Girl, Gloss, moves to town. No one understands why perfect, polished Gloss is so interested in an introverted skater kid, but Max blooms in the hothouse of her attention. Caught between romance and obsession, he'll do whatever it takes to keep her on his side.

AFTER. Haircuts, makeovers, drugs, parties. It's all fun and games until someone gets killed at a rager gone terribly wrong. Max refuses to believe that Gloss did it. But if not Gloss, who? Desperate to figure out truth in the wake of tragedy, Max veers dangerously close to being implicated—and his own memories of that awful night are fuzzy. Both sharp-edged thriller and moving coming of age, this gorgeously wrought novel is perfect for readers who want stories with trans characters front and center.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"There's a maturity and depth to the raw emotion and a hypersaturated intensity to the imagery. Max is a vulnerable, honest, engaging narrator, whose search for truths—his own, Gloss', and that of the fateful night his old life died—unfurls at an addictively relentless pace... The inner lives of supporting characters are rich and muddled, reflecting the complexity of life... Poignant and intoxicating." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"McAdam persuasively delivers a sensitive portrait of one trans teenager's experience navigating the roiling, uncertain emotions of adolescence amid a nail-biting murder mystery." —Publishers Weekly

"No One Left But You is a suspenseful mystery novel about grief and obsession." —Foreword Reviews

This information about No One Left But You was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Tash McAdam

Tash McAdam is a Welsh-Canadian author, activist, and high school educator. Their publications include The Psionics, and the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections Blood Sport and Sink or Swim. They are also featured in multiple anthologies. Tash is a recipient of the Shoot for the Moon fund for trans writers, and a founding mentor with the Gender Generations Project. When they're not writing or reading you can probably find Tash in a lake, lying on the carpet thinking about monsters, or getting a new tattoo. They enjoy regular cups of tea, existential philosophy, and sharp objects.

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