DEMONS AT MY DOOR

Aly is hounded by demons. They lurk about her bedroom door at night. Their sole aim, she learns from an old book on Indian lore, is to tease and hassle. They even follow her to her SAT test, waving from the window, so that smart, capable, hard-working Aly--who is aiming for 800s--has to leave the exam. Enrolled in a special independent study program for high school seniors, Al y knows her family and school, friends and boyfriend, expect great things of her. She idolizes her self-made father and feels she must emulate his achievement and emotional self-control. ""Don't think about it any more. Just think pleasant thoughts,"" he tells her when she has a nightmare. Hence, the demons. It's all very credible, but not vitally real even as a case study. Morgenroth writes with a heavy hand, and one tires of hearing Aly's praise for her father and stumbling over Morgenroth's dropped hints as to the demons' origin.