Trouble Is a Friend of Mine

Of course I didn't like Digby when I first met him. No one does. He's rude, he doesn't ever take no for an answer, and he treats you like a book he's already read and knows the ending to even if you yourself didn't yet. Now, if you're a normal sixteen-year-old like I am, and you spend half your time obsessing about the future and what you're supposed to be and spend the other half reading about makeup, diets, and all the ways to change who you already are, then the stuff he hits you with is hard to take. Like Digby himself said: The truth is almost always disappointing.

Not that I need him to tell me about the truth. Or disappointment. In the last six months, I went from living in an almost-good part of Brooklyn to my parents divorcing and Mom and me moving to River Heights, a small city in the armpit of upstate New York. Trust me, it's an even bigger lifestyle demotion than it sounds like.

Here's my first confession. I hung out with cool people, sure, but looking back, I think maybe we were friends only because we were in the same classes and our parents all got divorced around the same time. Digby calls them circumstantial friends. Right place, right time-it was easy to be friends, and so we were.

My friendship with Digby, on the other hand, while circumstantially convenient-he just shows up, after all-is not easy. Nothing with that guy ever is. At first, I thought I hung out with him because I was bored and wanted to get back at Mom for moving me here. Then I thought it was because he seemed so lost and alone all the time.

But now I'm standing outside a house wired with enough explosives to blow up our entire block into a pile of matchsticks, trying to figure out the best way to get back in, and I realize that really, I'm the one who's been lost.

But I'm jumping too far ahead. All this began on the first day of school and we need to go back there for you to understand.

ONE

I'd been telling Mom to change the drained batteries in the doorbell

Stephanie Tromly was born in Manila, grew up in Hong Kong, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and worked as a screenwriter in Los Angeles. She is the author of Trouble is a Friend of Mine and lives in Winnipeg with her husband and young son.

***Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year***

"I am in awe of Tromly because of what she has pulled off a funny, realistic teen crime caper. Do you know how hard it is to get those right? It's basically impossible. But this book sings." Jesse Andrews, author of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Haters

"In what reads like a combination of Veronica Mars and The Breakfast Club, debut author Tromly creates a screwball mystery with powerful crossover appeal." Publishers Weekly, starred review

"This debut novel sparkles. Absolutely nothing slows down the pace of this outrageous romp. . . . This is one of those rare books that promises something unique and actually delivers beyond expectation. At least one copy belongs in every young adult collection." VOYA, starred review

"Fast-talking, suit-wearing Digby is an exasperating teenage Sherlock sharply observant, impatient with social niceties, and unafraid of authority figures. . . . Fans of Veronica Mars and Elementary will find much to like here . . . Zoe's sarcastic first-person narration is fresh and funny . . . an offbeat and entertaining caper." Kirkus

"An engrossing and satisfying read . . . Hand this one out along with a Chandler or Hammett classic and the first season of Veronica Mars." BCCB, starred review

"A fast-paced story. . . . Readers will find a sharply drawn character in the irrepressible Zoe, who's as dubious about Digby's methods as she is curious about whether or not she can live up to his daredevilry." SLJ

"With acerbic banter and a healthy dose of high-school high jinks, screenwriter Tromly weaves together traditional elements of teen stories to create a Breakfast Club for a new century." Booklist