The perils of popularity may be too much for Hazel as she joins the eponymous clique of girls in the “in crowd” at her high school. Hazel agrees to shun her former friends, neglect her schoolwork and subject herself to the rule of Sylvia, the intimidating leader of the Pretty Little Devils. Hazel achieves her goal; other students either envy or hate her. She endures the pranks her new friends love to play on her. Soon, though, real deaths occur. First animals and then a student are brutally killed. Hazel realizes that someone close to the Pretty Little Devils may be a homicidal maniac. Could it be Hazel’s new boyfriend, the handsome hunk Matty, or someone else even closer to the group? Suspense builds in this examination of adolescent social mores, as Hazel’s new popularity may not seem worth the price to many readers. An interesting, scary mystery. (Fiction. YA)
