It’s For Your Own Good by Kate Francis – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Kidnapped, betrayed, hunted – trust noone.
YA book title: It’s For Your Own Good.
YA author: Kate Francis.
Genre: Young Adult/Thriller.
Published by: Usborne.
ISBN: 9781836048404.
Recommended for children aged: 14+.
First published: Paperback July 2026.
This YA novel is ideal for: Readers who enjoy fast paced, twisty mystery/thriller fiction who are not deterred by themes of violence, family betrayal, grief, depression, death and murder. Ideal for fans of Kate Francis’s other works of Circle of Liars and Every Last Liar or Karen McManus’s The Traitors.
To see the latest price or order, click on the book cover image. As an Amazon Associate, schoolreadinglist.co.uk earns from qualifying purchases.
Our review:
When Liv Walker is kidnapped in the middle of the night, it is not the two masked figures that haunt her, but the sight of her own family waving at her as she is carried away and tossed into a waiting van. How could her own family stand there, watch and do nothing?
Liv finds herself at Camp Smiling Skies, a therapy camp for troubled teens under the control of the formidable and malevolent ‘Chipmunk’, the camp leader. There is no running water, only a bucket for a toilet, and the camp is miles from civilisation, with a fast-flowing river and mountains blocking any hope of escape. Penance must be paid for their treatment of their families until their families want them back, which may never happen.
Liv meets her fellow campers: the tanned and athletic Lucas; Ruby, daughter of a famous Hollywood actress; the enigmatic Ben, a camp troublemaker and supposed murderer; devious Milo; and incessantly anxious Shasta. Each one, weighed down by their own emotional pain and secrets, feels unwanted and worthless. In a place like this, where everyone is hiding something, anyone could be the one with the most dangerous secret of all. Whispers of missing campers and botched escapes are one thing. A body is another. Now the race is on to escape Camp Smiling Skies before they become the next victim, but who can they trust?
Our verdict:
Tension twists steadily through It’s For Your Own Good. Camp Smiling Skies is isolated from the outside world, leaving no adult to turn to, no obvious way out and no simple explanations. The place feels amiss long before anyone dies. From the outset, the counsellors’ tactics reveal that this was never a refuge for struggling teens. The imbalance of power is genuinely disturbing, and the cruelty hits harder for being understated rather than theatrical. Chipmunk, the head counsellor, wears a name that is almost mockingly endearing for someone so spiteful and indifferent, overseeing a group of teens who are each broken in their own way and abandoned by the very people meant to protect them. As doubt spreads, friendships splinter, fingers start pointing and the people you trusted yesterday become tomorrow’s suspects. All of this is handled with a restraint that keeps the story feeling believable rather than exaggerated.
Anchoring it all is a heroine who will not abandon her own moral compass, even when staying quiet would be the wiser choice. This makes it as much a story of grit, integrity and holding your ground under pressure as it is a fight for survival. Overall, it is a gripping, brisk YA thriller that will have the reader guessing right up to the end.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
Teaching Points
Trust and Betrayal
- How does the book explore trust, specifically in relationships we might take for granted, such as those with family, authority figures and friends? What does it mean to be betrayed by those who claim to be acting for your own good?
Power and Authority
- Chipmunk, the camp leader, represents a frightening abuse of authority over vulnerable young people. Why do institutions exploit authority under the guise of ‘help’, and how can this be managed by young people?
Isolation and Vulnerability
- The isolated setting leaves the campers unable to access their normal support systems. How can isolation be used to manipulate others?
Suspicion and Relationships
- As the campers suspect one another and friendships begin to fracture, how can suspicion erode friendship and undermine close relationships?
Book Club Questions
- Liv’s family waves goodbye as she is dragged away. How did that moment shape your feelings towards her family for the rest of the book? Did your opinion of them change by the end?
- Camp Smiling Skies claims to help troubled teens, but the reality is very different. What does the book suggest about how easily institutions can hide cruelty disguised as concern?
- Chipmunk’s nickname is almost playful, yet the character is anything but. Why do you think the author chose such a mismatched name for someone so menacing? What effect did it have on you as a reader?
- As suspicion spreads through the camp, friendships start to break down and former allies become suspects. How did the author build that sense of paranoia? Was there a moment when your own suspicions about a character turned out to be wrong?
- Liv refuses to compromise her principles even when staying quiet would be safer. Do you think her choices were admirable, reckless or somewhere in between? Would you have made the same decisions in her position?
- The isolation of the camp removes any easy escape or access to outside help. How did that setting affect the tension of the story, and do you think the book would have worked as well in a less isolated setting?
Many thanks to Usborne for the review copy.
To order a class set of this book, please click below to order via uk.bookshop.org, an organisation that supports local bookshops, or Amazon.co.uk.
Buy from UK.Bookshop.Org Buy from Amazon.co.uk
Disclosure: If you buy books using the buttons above, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops; as an Amazon Associate, schoolreadinglist.co.uk earns from qualifying purchases.
Browse our Year 9 reading list.
