Ada Sibelius is a 14-year-old whose world is upended when her father develops Alzheimer’s.  Even more disturbing, she then discovers that he may have been living under a false identity.  With the unsettling realization that her only (and now incapacitated) parent may be a con man, she starts to investigate.  

The book is set in 1980’s Boston, where Ada’s father is a cutting-edge computer scientist and researcher. It takes you back to the time when home computers were new, and every development was exciting. A fellow librarian friend also noted that this reminded her of Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me—it has the same nostalgic, puzzle-like feel. It’s a coming-of-age story that would also appeal to sci-fi and mystery fans, and the ending is so emotionally resonant and memorable that I’m still thinking about it almost a year later.

Do not miss this one!