FLASH BURNOUT

Fifteen-year-old photographer-in-training Blake is caught between fawning over his gorgeous girlfriend Shannon and helping Marissa, his troubled photography partner, a friend who also happens to be a girl. At first, the three handle the tension with uneasy understanding, but the uncertainty builds as Blake begins to spend more time with Marissa, locking Shannon out of their secrets. Madigan also throws a lovable goofball brother, Marissa’s meth-addicted mom and a morgue into the mix. Like any boy his age, Blake thinks about sex a lot. The narrative handles his hormones well, safely focusing on his character’s inner yearnings and providing just enough gritty details to feel realistic. The dialogue between the characters, especially the “dude” repartee between Blake and his brother, feels genuinely alive. Overplotting is the novel’s only fault, but the details are just intriguingly bizarre enough to hook teens of both sexes and keep them engrossed by the naïvely unsteady love triangle. Somehow, all of the loose ends get tied up into a haphazard yet entertaining read. (Fiction. YA)