Book Talk: Ichaso, ‘Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets’

Piper Sullivan is perfect. She takes an AP class at a different high school because the subject is too advanced for Grayling High, where she and her older sister Savannah are enrolled. Not only is she super intelligent, she’s also successful at everything she attempts and popular among her classmates. So, Savannah is suspicious about circumstances on the day that Piper fell, was pushed, or jumped off Vanderwild Point in an attempt to kill herself.

Piper has been in a coma for several months, and doctors have advised the Sullivan parents to “pull the plug.” They say that without machines doing her breathing and taking care of other vital signs for her, Piper would be dead. But Piper’s parents can’t bring themselves to take the medical advice, and her sister is determined to find out exactly what happened on the day of the “accident.” At least, it was an accident in the collective mind of the local police department.

Savannah, who has been “casual” about her studies but is the star of the girls’ soccer team, decides to become a detective and do the work that she believes the police have simply overlooked. However, she is conflicted and filled with angst because she thinks that she might be to blame for her sister’s death because of a parting quarrel between the sisters.