Book Review: The Other Lola by Ripley Jones

The last thing that Cam Munoz and Blair Johnson expected was for their investigative podcast into the disappearance of Clarissa Campbell to not only put them in mortal danger, but also to earn them the sometimes irrational ire of numerous people, many of them anonymous online trolls. Now that the case is closed and their notoriety has mostly died down, the high school seniors are focusing on their futures. Brilliant, eccentric Cam fully intends to study physics at MIT, joining her girlfriend on the East Coast. Blair’s goals, however, are hazier. She’s always been the good, perfectly average girl her parents have long expected her to be, but she chafes at their assumption that it was Cam who dragged her out of her comfort zone and into trouble in the first place:

[S]omething stings about her family’s willingness to attribute everything the podcast accomplished to someone else.

 

Because, though the podcast was Cam’s idea, Cam could never have pulled it off without Blair. Blair’s the one who got Clarissa’s family and friends to talk. Blair’s the one who steered the madcap engine of Cam’s brain. Blair’s the one who figured out what was really going on with Clarissa and her teacher, and Blair’s the one who came to the rescue when Cam got herself imprisoned in a basement and almost murdered.

 

She doesn’t want her parents to hate her. She doesn’t want anyone to hate her. But she sure would like some credit.

When young Mattie Brosillard approaches the duo with another potential investigation, Cam has zero interest in accepting. Cam is still pretty traumatized from what happened last time, but Blair is both intrigued by Mattie’s plea and tired of being seen as the sidekick. Besides, all Mattie wants them to do, at least initially, is attend a party.

Five years ago, Mattie’s older sister, Lola, disappeared. Their mother, Ruth, insisted that troubled young Lola had just run away again, but Mattie knew that Lola would never just leave without saying goodbye to them. Now, someone claiming to be Lola has reappeared in the Brosillard’s lives. The new Lola says that she spent the last five years kidnapped and constantly moved from place to place, and that her memories otherwise are hazy. Ruth is thrilled to welcome her prodigal daughter home, but Mattie is convinced that this other Lola is a fake, and wants Cam and Blair to help them prove it.

With varying degrees of reluctance, Cam and Blair agree to attend Lola’s homecoming party. Despite their misgivings – as Lola seems to genuinely be who she claims – the high schoolers can’t help but be drawn to Mattie’s genuine need for emotional support. The more they investigate though, the more unsettling truths they learn about the Brosillard family, and about the new Lola, who is certainly not as innocent as she seems:

It’s easy enough to come back. To walk into this house and see where the old Lola failed. Where her edges didn’t fit. To smooth herself into a shape that slots into the void the old Lola left, and then remake it. A gentler, more pliable version of the girl who left for good all those years ago. A light, gentle Lola whose mother will want to keep her, not hide her away in shame.

 

The new Lola has valuable skills. She can feign softness, hiding what’s hard beneath. She can smile sweetly. She can ask for nothing in a way that makes other people want to give, and give, and give.

 

It’s easier than you think to be a girl everyone wants to love.

 

All you have to do is lie.

Meditating on the themes of self-invention and the strength of chosen family, The Other Lola is both thoughtful and surprisingly fast-paced, as the secrets our characters are keeping from one another emerge with devastating effect into the light of day. It’s hard not to sympathize with both Mattie and the new Lola, even as they’re seemingly at odds. Similarly, Cam and Blair each have their own angle on this investigation that neither fully wants to share with anyone at all, much less with each other. The ways in which these relationships dovetail present a striking, nuanced vision of the many different ways in which modern young American women and non-binary people have to adapt in order to survive. 

All of this is wrapped up in a healthy dose of social consciousness, with witty banter to help leaven the occasionally somber mood. While slighter than its predecessor, the excellent Missing Clarissa, this is still a terrific young adult mystery novel that isn’t afraid to tackle the real challenges facing young people of good conscience today.