Book Extract: Conspiracy Girl by Sarah Alderson

I'm very excited to announce my part in the Conspiracy Girl blog tour! The latest Sarah Alderson book, published by Simon & Schuster UK is now available and to celebrate I'm offering an exclusive extract to give you a taste of what's to come. 

Today we'll be taking a look at the synopsis, an exclusive extract and there will even be chance to enter a competition to get your hands on Sarah Alderson goodies.

Synopsis

Everybody knows about the Cooper Killings.

There was only one survivor – fifteen year-old Nic Preston.

Now eighteen, Nic is trying hard to rebuild her life. But then one night her high-security apartment is broken into. It seems the killers are back to finish the job.

Finn Carter – hacker, rule breaker, player – is the last person Nic ever wants to see again. 

He’s the reason her mother’s murderers walked free. But as the people hunting her close in, Nic has to accept that her best chance of staying alive is by staying close to Finn.

And the closer they get to the truth, and to each other, the greater the danger becomes.

Excerpt

Don’t be mad,’ I say. ‘I needed to run a tracer on your emails, see if anyone had hacked into your account.’

‘Besides you, you mean?’

‘Yeah,’ I admit.

She glares at me but I ignore it. I was only trying to look out for her. It’s not like I was stalking her. ‘So who is he?’ I ask.

‘Like you don’t know already,’ she snorts.

 I try not to smile or laugh. ‘OK, yeah, you got me,’ I admit. ‘I ran a check on him. Of course I did. I ran checks on everyone you came into contact with over the last four years. But there’s something about this guy Marcus that doesn’t add up.’ I wonder if now’s a good time to mention the waxing.

‘What?’ she says, laughing scornfully. ‘Are you suggesting that Marcus is in on all this somehow?’

‘He’s studying orthodontistry, and has a totally clean record,’ I say.

‘And?’ she asks, staring at me in total disbelief.

‘You’re seriously dating the guy?’ I ask, frowning at her. ‘He kind of looks...’

‘He looks what?’ she asks, her voice hitching up a notch.

I’m starting to wish I hadn’t brought this up. But I have, so I may as well follow through. ‘Just,’ I say, looking for the right words, ‘he doesn’t seem like your type.’

Her mouth drops open before she clamps it shut. ‘How do you know what my type even is?’ she spits. ‘I don’t have a type!’

I let out a snort. ‘Oh, yeah you do.’

She blinks at me twice in astonishment. ‘What?’ she asks. I don’t know Nic Preston very well, but I’m starting to know her a lot better, and I can tell that when her voice goes low and quiet like it has just now, that she’s on the verge of blowing her top.

‘You’ve rented every Ryan Gosling movie ever made in the course of the last six months. And you have a thing for period dramas. So I’m thinking your type is actually pretty obvious. You want someone who’s like a cross between Noah from The Notebook and Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.’

She doesn’t talk for a few seconds and I start to think that maybe she really is about to lose her shit. I even glance around to make sure I haven’t left the gun lying around. Maybe I shouldn’t have let it be known that I checked her Netflix subscription while I was doing background checks. She turns back to the fire, glaring into the flames and shaking her head. ‘My god, Finn, where do you draw the line?’ she mutters.

‘So why are you dating him?’ I ask.

It’s just a brief flash, but I swear a tiny trace of a smile appears before she stifles it. ‘What’s it to you?’ she demands.

‘Nothing,’ I say. ’Just curious. I’m gathering evidence for my theory that short, aesthetically-challenged men have to work harder to please women, and hence make better...boyfriends.’

‘He isn’t aesthetically-challenged,’ she says indignantly, but there’s that smile again which she’s trying desperately to suppress. ‘He has good teeth.’

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About the author  

Sarah is the author of Hunting Lila (winner of the Kingston Book Award), Losing Lila, Fated, The Sound, Out of Control and Conspiracy Girl (all Simon & Schuster).

Having spent most of her life in London, Sarah quit her job in the non profit sector in 2009 and took off on a round the world trip with her husband and daughter on a mission to find a new place to call home (a journey that was documented on this blog and which is shortly to be turned into a book).

After almost a year spent travelling the world, they settled in Bali where they lived for five beautiful years before the vagabonding urge became too great and they decided to embark on Can We Live Here part two. They are currently located somewhere between India, London, Canada and the US.

As well as writing young adult novels and screenplays, Sarah also writes adult fiction for Pan Macmillan (Simon & Schuster in the US) under the name Mila Gray.

Her first adult novel, Come Back To Me, was published in June 2014. The second, This One Moment, will be out in August 2015.

Sarah has co-written the Hunting Lila screenplay, which is currently in the early stages of production, and continues to blog about her life and travels.

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