THE OTHER SIDE OF DARK

After four years in a coma, Stacy--now 17--awakes. Her last memory is of her mother's killer just before he shot Stacy, too. His face, in her memory, remains blank. Following that melodramatic beginning, Nixon makes Stacy and her conflicts convincing and suspenseful. Not only does she have to cope with a four-year loss of maturation (fashions, friends and men are main concerns, not world changes), but she also realizes that her mother's killer will try to get her before she can remember who he is. Perhaps her most intense conflict is her growing sense of hatred and anger against the killer; she feels she has lost control of herself. Adolescents will feel empathy as Stacy faces the trials of teens all at once; the mounting suspense as the killer closes in will keep them turning the pages.