The Lies I Carry
CONTENT GUIDE
Language:
Several uses of hell and bloody, as well as a few instances of d***n. Crudmuffin is used three times. Ba***rd and a** make two appearances. Pi***d, crap, geez, bull, and dang it are all used once.
Violence:
Mild
Guns are present in several scenes, along with threats to use them. Shots are fired, but any injuries or deaths are vaguely described. Someone hits a man on the back of the head with a gun, supposedly knocking him out.
There are several brief scuffles that involve punching, slapping, shoving, or grabbing.
A man gets stabbed in the hand; there's a mention of bloody fingers after the knife is pulled out.
Brief moderate
Some teenage boys get into a fight that turns deadly. Pieces of glass are used as weapons, and there are brief mentions of blood. One boy drops to the floor; it is implied that he’s dead, but no descriptive details are given. Another boy kills his attacker by stabbing him in the chest with the glass.
Sexual content:
None
Drug/alcohol use:
Adults drink champagne at a dinner party. A man frequently smokes cigarettes, and Seth is annoyed by the habit. Seth is given sedatives on multiple occasions; after one such occasion, a man refers to him as “doped up,” and suggests that it must be nice for Seth. Another adult who is present is horrified by the remark.
Some teens inject themselves with a substance that will help them hide from their captors. Two of the teens share a needle because there aren’t enough syringes to go around, and Seth thinks about how that’s not a smart thing to do, but decides that there isn’t much choice in the moment.
Other negative elements:
Early in the book, Seth and Jordy both break the strict rules set in place by their guardian. Seth also shows a strong disregard for his education. When his tutor asks him a question, he cheats by reading the answer off Jordy's paper. Seth admits that he's cheated in this way before.
Much of the story revolves around genetic research and scientists conducting tests with Seth and other teens. While the tests don’t physically harm the subjects, Seth is mentally and emotionally affected by some of them. Throughout everything, he remains aware of how messed up the situation is and doesn’t respect or trust the adults who are involved.
Cain, the leader of this group, is highly manipulative and takes every opportunity to toy with people’s thoughts and feelings. At one point, it's mentioned that he enjoys hurting people. Cain and some of the people who work for him show a complete disregard for the sanctity of life and treat the teens as resources rather than human beings.
Due to the dangerous situation, Seth frequently finds it necessary to lie in order to protect himself and his brother. He also makes other questionable choices in the name of protecting Jordy and ignores his conscience in these moments. Some of his lies and decisions come back to bite him eventually.
A boy talks about how he killed people in the past and shows no remorse for his actions. Seth is appropriately disturbed by this. (It's revealed later that only some of what the boy says is true.)