Mackenzie Reed (YA Thriller)
Author: Mackenzie Reed (@mackenziemreed7)
Age Range: Young Adult
Genre: Thriller
Agent: Amy Bishop, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret
The Query Letter:
Dear Amy Bishop,
Thank you so much for requesting my full manuscript of AN ARSONIST'S GUIDE TO HIGH SCHOOL during the RevPit 2020 showcase. I apologize for the delay as I was putting some finishing touches on it, but I'm so excited to share it with you now. I have attached the full manuscript as a Word document and included the query below:
Izzy Blase is hiding a burning secret––she comes from a family of professional arsonists, and she's one of the best.
Turning empty houses to blistering infernos comes naturally to the seventeen-year-old, especially with the help of an airtight alibi––her family’s pizzeria that makes the best pies in town. What’s not as easy is managing the looming threat of college, leaving her widowed father an empty-nester, and attracting the attention of her long-time crush, Noah Grayfield. When a mysterious arson job with a promise of $50,000 lands on her family’s doorstep, accepting the offer is a no-brainer for Izzy, despite the red flag that somebody knows their secret business.
But things get complicated when the job leads Izzy to unwittingly burn down Noah's house––and nearly his mother with it. Now Izzy has a new reason to get closer to Noah––she’s desperate to discover who ordered the arson job and… was she set up to commit murder? With the growing fear that Noah could be next, she covertly investigates while struggling to keep her role in the arson a secret. But Izzy’s reminded the inevitable truth of playing with fire: she’s bound to get burned. And if she’s not careful, she might drag her loved ones into the flames with her.
AN ARSONIST’S GUIDE TO HIGH SCHOOL is a YA thriller complete at 94,000 words. Following the antics of a savvy teen arsonist, this novel features strong friendships, big family dynamics, and an abundance of pizza. It combines the suspense and teen angst of Karen McManus’s One of Us is Lying and Diana Urban’s All Your Twisted Secrets with the covert familial association of Ally Carter's The Heist Society.
I am a member of Rochester Area Children’s Writers and Illustrators (RACWI) and this manuscript is a RevPit 2020 winner. I previously completed an editorial internship with a local magazine.
Thank you for your time and consideration!
Best wishes,
Mackenzie Reed