DARK SONG

The queen of YA thrillers does it again with another gripping page-turner in which love and danger meet. Always the good girl to her rebellious best friend, Ames leads a privileged life in Boulder, Colo., with private school, designer clothes and no responsibilities. It all slams into a wall when her broker dad is fired for scamming from clients and gambles away the rest of the family savings. Feeling angry and betrayed, the teen starts to unleash the “Wild Thing” inside her. The rumpus intensifies when the family is forced to move into a rental home, last used as a drug flophouse, in Texas, and she meets Marc, a mysterious loner who collects guns and wants to protect Ames from any more pain. The initial excitement of her first boyfriend, and a bad boy no less, gives way to doubt and fear when Marc begins to control her actions and asks her to make the ultimate sacrifice. Stock characters and rushed plot fillers will not deter readers’ hearts from thumping from the puzzling beginning to the fast-paced conclusion. (Thriller. YA)