Originally published in Great Britain as Truth or Dare, Rees folds three strands of plot together into one intriguing mystery about 13-year-old Joshua’s long-departed Uncle Patrick. Even before they arrive at Gram’s house, where Gram is terminally ill and needing care, Mom is acting strange. Although Gram’s mutterings about Patrick aren’t worth bothering about, the strangeness of Patrick’s old room is worth Josh’s study. While absorbed by these oddities, Josh’s mother, Joanna, in an attempt to deal with her own guilt, creates a computer file describing the critical events of the long-ago summer when she was 11 and Patrick disappeared. After Gram is gone, neighbor Katherine, 15 and attractive, provides the outside prod to truly search for answers. Together, she and Josh discover a frightening correlation between that secret family story and the plot of a new AlienState video game: HomeWorld. The dexterity with which Rees weaves these threads together builds suspense. The characters are not well-developed, nor is there a strong moral sense at the core. At the heart of the mystery is Patrick’s autism, or Asberger’s Syndrome. There was no such diagnosis at the time, and much pain and tragedy resulted. The brutality with which Patrick is treated doesn’t diminish or excuse the violence of his reactions. The impact is softened and made bearable by having the worst take place off-stage or in the past. Adults may wish for an ending that delves deeper and questions the moral justice of events, but the intended readers will be grabbed by the trail of leads and will accept the mystery on its own terms. Detecting with a techie tilt. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7894-2668-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2000
In this riveting futuristic novel, Spaz, a teenage boy with epilepsy, makes a dangerous journey in the company of an old man and a young boy. The old man, Ryter, one of the few people remaining who can read and write, has dedicated his life to recording stories. Ryter feels a kinship with Spaz, who unlike his contemporaries has a strong memory; because of his epilepsy, Spaz cannot use the mind probes that deliver entertainment straight to the brain and rot it in the process. Nearly everyone around him uses probes to escape their life of ruin and poverty, the result of an earthquake that devastated the world decades earlier. Only the “proovs,” genetically improved people, have grass, trees, and blue skies in their aptly named Eden, inaccessible to the “normals” in the Urb. When Spaz sets out to reach his dying younger sister, he and his companions must cross three treacherous zones ruled by powerful bosses. Moving from one peril to the next, they survive only with help from a proov woman. Enriched by Ryter’s allusions to nearly lost literature and full of intriguing, invented slang, the skillful writing paints two pictures of what the world could look like in the future—the burned-out Urb and the pristine Eden—then shows the limits and strengths of each. Philbrick, author of Freak the Mighty (1993) has again created a compelling set of characters that engage the reader with their courage and kindness in a painful world that offers hope, if no happy endings. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-439-08758-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
Four fifth-graders are recruited by a scheming magician in this hefty bonbon from the author of the Fablehaven tales. At first, Nate, Summer, Trevor and Pigeon think they have it good. Having asked them to help her recover a hidden treasure that (she says) belongs to her, Belinda White, friendly proprietor of a sweets shop that has just opened in their small town, provides some uncommon candies—like Moon Rocks, that give them the ability to jump like grasshoppers, and literally electrifying Shock Bits. When she begins asking them to commit certain burglaries, though, their exhilaration turns to unease, and rightly so; Mrs. White is actually after a draft from the Fountain of Youth that will make her the world’s most powerful magician. And, as it turns out, she isn’t the only magician who’s come to town—not even the only one whose magic is tied to sweets. Filling out the supporting cast with the requisite trio of bullies, plus magical minions of various (and sometimes gross) abilities, Mull trots his twist-laden plot forward to a well set-up climax. Leaving the door open an inch for sequels, he dishes up a crowd-pleaser as delicious—if not so weird—as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . (Fantasy. 10-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59038-783-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2007
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