SAVANNAH GREY

Fifteen-year-old Savannah Grey discovers that she can bench press 725 pounds, outrun anyone in her school and has a mysterious growth in her throat that instills a killing power. At first Savannah is confused and frightened by her powers, but then she meets Reece, a boy with a similar condition of the larynx, who tells her who she is and what she’s meant to do. Together the two wage a battle against a cadre of ill-named, Scooby-Doo–esque buffoons/beasts (the Horror! the Nyktomorph!) in order to save themselves and the world. McNish’s latest is chock-full of clunky plotting, cheesy one-liners and hokey supernatural nuances. If teen readers can make it past the first chapter, in which a slobbering, toothy monster—aka The Horror—sneaks into Savannah’s room to spy on her, without laughing out loud, then they might make it far enough to discover the back story behind these foolish monsters. The tale struggles with audience: While the theme and the action sequences seem to suggest that the work is written for teens, the tone, dialogue and descriptive passages lack edge and read as if they were written for middle graders. The supernatural theme could pique the interests of reluctant readers, but they really deserve more than this work could ever offer. (Horror. 12 & up)