DEL-DEL

Sam is seven, brilliant, and deeply disturbed by the death of his sister Laura. Quiet remaining sister Beth—neither brilliant nor beautiful—watches helplessly as he is possessed by Del-Del, a coldly mocking creature. At first this creature seems to be demonic—an exorcist tracks it to its lair in Sam's computer; then Del-Del is revealed as an alien from the constellation Delphinus, pure thought winged across the galaxy. Finally, with their parents near divorce and the family in uproar, Beth realizes the truth: Del-Del is the cold, hard place in Sam's mind that he has created to conceal his grief. In trying to free Sam, Beth has a serious accident. She promises that if she lives Del-Del will be gone. She does; he is. The songs Del-Del mockingly sings are all about death—``Who Killed Cock Robin?''; ``Ding Dong Bell, Pussy's in the Well''- -giving both readers and Sam's parents ample clues to Sam's real trouble. Still, it can be easier to believe in demons than in the depths of young grief. A well-plotted and engrossing portrayal of a child's inability to cope with death, from an Australian whose novels have consistently been of interest (Baily's Bones). (Fiction. 12+)