Just So Stories

Scholastic Australia

May 2026

ISBN: 9781761526794

RRP: $17.99

My first introduction to Jack Heath and his amazing capacity for inventive and thrilling narrative was at the ASLA Conference Canberra [circa 2005 if I recall?]. I am quite sure his presentation was at The Shine Dome, which was great fun in itself but it’s been a while so I might be misremembering that part! I’ve since read several of his books of course and this one was truly a cracking thriller.

It had all the right ingredients: a fast-ticking countdown, many red herrings, very suspicious characters of great variety, and a young feisty teen investigator with a snarky, clever sidekick. What’s not to love?

Several years earlier a devastating house fire has left a family homeless and one twin daughter dead. Morgan was the difficult twin, always in trouble, always the rebel while Jamie was her parents’ golden child. So, some uncharitable people might have said, rather it be Morgan that perished in the fire than Jamie. Supposedly the arsonist is in jail. Then why is somebody blackmailing Jamie?

Teen podcaster, Zoe Gale, has been recruited by her brother, Axel, to help uncover the blackmailer. He is now at uni and Jamie is his close friend. But Jamie is pretty uncooperative for someone who wants their blackmailer caught. Could she be hiding something?

Whoever it is that is hiding the really dangerous truth is desperate enough to kill for it and it looks very much like Zoe is the target of that desperation. While the reader might piece together some of the mystery if they interpret the clues correctly, the twist in the tail will still be an eye-opener for many.

Jack has created some very believable and authentic sounding characters in this novel and readers will easily make connections and judgements based on his presentation of them. There’s also some clever humour threaded throughout which does provide some relief from the high intensity situations in which Zoe finds herself.

It’s a roller-coaster ride from start to finish that will thoroughly satisfy your readers from around 13 up. It gets a 5 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥from me.