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The Steps

by Wendelin Van Draanen

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Family secrets, with every move in play

$17.70 USD
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Hardcover New English

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AlbakiReads Editorial

Family secrets, with every move in play

Fourteen-year-old chess player Ruby Vossen is caught in a wealthy family’s widening rift after the deaths of her mother and aunt. Her father’s remarriage brings two new stepsiblings into the household, while dangerous incidents on the family estate deepen Ruby’s suspicion that the Vossens’ fortune is at stake. Chess supplies the story’s organizing frame: Ruby thinks in terms of moves, alliances, and a possible checkmate as she tries to recover her bond with her cousin. The setup combines family mystery with threats that turn inheritance disputes into a source of danger.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Teens and young adults interested in family-centered mysteries
  • Readers drawn to chess-themed suspense and stories about shifting family alliances

Themes

Family estrangementSecrets and deceptionInheritanceChess and strategy

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Riverdale meets The Queen's Gambit in this fun, twisty thriller by an Edgar Award-winning author, featuring a deliciously dysfunctional family with dark secrets and shifting alliances.

Fourteen-year-old chess whiz Ruby Vossen tries to keep to herself. She refuses to be a pawn in her wealthy family's web of deception.

But ever since Ruby's mother and aunt died in a car wreck, the battle lines drawn within the Vossen clan have ruled her life. Ruby's father and uncle became irreparably estranged, and within months, Ruby's cousin/BFF was banished from her life, her father remarried, and she wound up with a gold-digging stepmom who has two teens of her own--The Steps.

So when strange and dangerous things begin happening on the Vossen estate, Ruby sees only one logical explanation: The Steps are scheming to inherit the Vossen fortune. And as things get more and more intense, it seems like killing is in their playbook.

Luckily, Ruby has her own playbook, and she's not about to go down without a fight. She'll even break her dad's rules to get her cousin back on her side of the chessboard . . . It's time to check-mate The Steps before they can finish the Vossens off.

Secrets, lies, and lethal threats abound in this clever, quirky thriller by the award-winning, bestselling author of Flipped and the Sammy Keyes mysteries.
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