This is Lamar Giles' best book yet, and that's saying a lot for a writer who's been nominated twice for an Edgar Award. The concept for this book is great: a teen card shark whose father is released from death row after being wrongly accused of murder. Her dad's plans to uncover the truth behind the person who framed him go terribly wrong, and Nikki ends up picking up the case.

Perhaps the biggest praise I can give this book is how tight the plot is, despite being very character-driven. Lamar shows great instincts for when to throw in a plot twist or to take a breath. Adding realism to the story is how he makes Nikki's decision to not go to the police completely credible. In fact, she has every reason to believe that going to the police would put her in greater jeopardy.

While the book includes a romantic interest and a pair of best friends for Nikki to interact with, it's her relationship with her parents that really made this book great for me. Life with her mother and father is a complicated wreck, but Lamar manages to avoid Nikki's parents being candidates for child neglect, revealing layers to both of them. These aren't absentee parents, but rather two people struggling with the chaos in their lives while trying to do right by their daughter.

The quality of the writing also makes this book stand out. As well-written as his previous novels were, Lamar continues to improve his craft. The pace of the book is near perfect, and when it reached the halfway mark, the story sucked me in so hard, I finished the second half in a single day (I'm typically a slow reader, even when I enjoy a novel).

For readers of YA who want a break from the deluge of series within the market, Lamar delivers some great standalone novels, and Overturned is no exception.