Cindy L. Otis

What happens when friendship goes too far?Tenth grade isn't going according to plan for Lainey. Her twin brother moved across the country to live with their dad and stepmom, leaving Lainey -- and her anxiety -- behind. And Lainey's starting to realize that maybe most of her friends were really her brother's friends. Thank god for Bliss.Bliss is navigating her own tough sophomore year, determined to find her place. But no matter what's going on in her life, Bliss is really good about being there for Lainey. She's confident and fearless, all that Lainey wishes she could be. It seems like Bliss is getting everything she's ever wanted, including a new boyfriend and becoming the first wheelchair user to land a lead role in the school production.What no one knows is that Bliss is struggling. At school it feels like everyone is always watching her, and at home, she's overwhelmed by her parents' expectations. When things get worse for Bliss, Lainey stops hearing from her completely. Panicked that something awful has happened, Lainey rushes to find out what's going on. But when Lainey arrives at Bliss's apartment, nothing is what it seems, and everything Lainey thought she knew about her friend is a lie...

“Outstanding in its plot detail, characterisations and depth.” - Armadillo Magazine "a timely, pulse-pounding mystery" - Publishers Weekly The truth might be more terrifying and deadly than anyone knows...Quinn Calvet is supposed to have an epic junior year. That is until nobody can stop talking about two kids who were kidnapped near her small town in upstate New York. When her older sister, Ava, joins a new school club run by Quinn's now reformed school-tormentor, dedicated to find the missing kids, Quinn knows she needs to act. Her luck looks like it might be changing when her posts about the missing kids and the school club go viral. At first Quinn is excited by the mass of new followers and attention her Insta is getting, but rumours, conspiracies and claims run rampant online and before she knows it, Quinn and her Instagram are at the centre of it all. Quinn must race to find out what happened to the missing kids amid the chaos before it can happen again. From ex-CIA officer Cindy Otis comes a thriller like no other Perfect for fans of Karen McManus, Kathryn Foxfield and Cynthia Murphy At The Speed of Lies shows that what we say and share online can have very real consequences offline, maybe even in other parts of the country or world

Trust no one. Question everything.Quinn Calvet was supposed to be having an epic year. She had all kinds of plans with her best friend, Ximena, and sister, Ava, and to grow her following as an influencer on The Whine. Instead, Quinn finds herself third wheel to Ximena and her new boyfriend or getting ditched by Ava who has turned into an overachiever, obsessed with studying and joining every school club. It brings up Quinn's old feelings that her disability has her left behind. She tries to talk to Ava about it, but she's too busy with the newest club at school, Defend Kids, which is working frantically to help find two kids who were recently kidnapped from a nearby town.Suddenly, Defend Kids is all anyone is talking about, and whenever Quinn posts about them on The Whine, she gains tons of new followers and her posts go viral. As the club works to get the message out, more kids in the surrounding area go missing, but it seems like the police and the media aren't doing much about it. When two of Quinn's classmates are kidnapped, the dangers that Defend Kids is trying to fight become all too real.As Quinn and her friends search for the missing kids, tensions escalate at school, there's an uptick in bullying, and conspiracy theories abound. Before she knows it, Quinn and The Whine are at the center of it all, trying to find out what's really happening. Only the truth might be more deadly than anyone knows...

'Fake news' is a term you’ve probably heard a lot in the last few years, but it’s not a new phenomenon. From the ancient Egyptians to the founding fathers, fake news has been around as long as human civilisation. But that doesn’t mean that we should just give up on the idea of finding the truth. In True or False, former CIA analyst Cindy Otis will take readers through the history and impact of fake news over the centuries, sharing stories from the past and insights that readers today can gain from them. Then she shares lessons learned in over a decade working for the CIA, including actionable tips on how to spot fake news and how to understand and see past our own information biases, so that we can think critically about important issues and put events happening around us into context.