an even greater threat to Jacob’s well-being. Debut author Adrian offers a refreshing spin on the suspenseful spy novel
with brisk scenes, adrenaline-fueled cliffhangers, and a sympathetic protagonist.
Though the motives of the main characters become muddled by the end, and
Adrian’s descriptive passages are typical,
there is much to savor in this thriller. It
comes as no surprise that Adrian introduces the whiff of a sequel in the final
pages. Ages 13–up. Agent: Kate Schafer
Testerman, KT Literary. (Jan.)
Playlist for the Dead
Michelle Falkoff. Harper Teen, $17.99 (288p)
ISBN 978-0-06-231050-7
Sam find his best friend Hayden dead
of an apparent suicide the morning after a
party—the two boys were both bullied at
school, but Sam still feels responsible.
Hayden left Sam a playlist of music as a
suicide note (the songs correspond to the
book’s chapters), which Sam listens to, eager for answers. Then strange things start
to happen. Sam receives messages from
someone using Hayden’s IM handle, a girl
named Astrid with connections to
Hayden appears in Sam’s life, and someone starts getting revenge against the
“bully trifecta” who made life hell for
Hayden and Sam—all of which make Sam
question everything he thought he knew
about Hayden. Debut author Falkoff
gives Sam a strong voice to narrate his
grief over the loss of his best friend and
his confusion about the events that follow.
Her efforts to add mystery to the circumstances surrounding Hayden’s death are
forced, however, and as the novel progresses, the revelations test plausibility.
This aside, Falkoff treats a difficult topic
with delicacy and care. A Spilled Ink
Productions property. Ages 13–up. Agent:
Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. (Jan.)
★ All the Bright Places
Jennifer Niven. Knopf, $17.99 (400p) ISBN
978-0-385-75588-7
Seniors Theodore Finch and Violet
Markey run into each other on their
school bell tower, contemplating what it
would be like to jump. It’s more dark-
cute than meet-cute, which also describes
the book. Finch thinks about suicide ev-
ery day; Violet was happy until her sister
died in a car crash. While Finch, aka
rative dwells in extremes, creating an im-
balanced, unrealistic tale of perseverance
against tribulations. Ages 12–up.
(BookLife)
Thane
Travis Daniel Bow. Mask and Mallet, $9.99
paper (322p) ISBN 978-0-9914657-0-5
Bow makes an ambitious debut with
this initial offering in the Everknot
Cycle, a fantasy adventure that follows
two kidnapped teens as they learn to
strike back at the forces occupying their
country. Fifteen-year-old Timothy and
his adopted brother, Robert, are stolen,
meant as unwilling recruits for the
Huctan army. Instead, they are rescued
by Selena, a young member of the secretive Band, a rebel force planning to drive
the Huctans out of Botan. As Timothy
eagerly joins the Band, he undergoes intensive training as a Thane—one of their
elite operatives—while Robert chooses a
more sedate path as an apprentice blacksmith and burgeoning strategist. All too
soon, the day comes when the Band is
shattered from within, and the remnants
are forced to fight for their very survival.
Bow’s narrative is engaging and imaginative, with plenty of attention and detail
given to Timothy’s daily training as a spy
and warrior. However, this comes at the
cost of worldbuilding, leaving intriguing
characters to occupy a generic fantasy
landscape. Predictable elements and an
inevitable cliffhanger further undermine
the promising story line. Ages 12–up.
(BookLife)
Tunnel Vision
Susan Adrian. St. Martin’s Griffin/Dunne,
$18.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-250-04792-2
Government surveillance. Psychic abil-
ities. Family secrets. All 18-year-old
Jacob Lukin wants is a girlfriend and ac-
ceptance to Stanford, but when he makes
the mistake of “tunneling” (psychically
identifying a person’s location through an
object) at a party, he gets caught in a
string of lies that ends in a shadowy gov-
ernment agency he can’t shake. The deep-
er Jacob falls into the agency’s clutches,
the more dangerous he becomes—to him-
self and others. Only Jacob’s grandfather,
himself a wanted man, understands what
is happening to him. As they plot their
escape, Jacob and his grandfather uncover
known as the Idle County Seven. Molly,
one of the missing, narrates the events
leading up to her vanishing; she also
leaves behind a journal detailing her fixa-
tion with ghost hunting. Decades later,
Jonathan Flite, a volatile and unsociable
13-year-old, claims to possess intimate
knowledge of the vanished Seven. A curi-
ous psychologist seeks out Jonathan, who
lives in a home for troubled youth, while
numerous other characters become preoc-
cupied with the unsolved mystery.
Meanwhile, a controversial leader of a
radical new wave of atheism is ominously
linked both to a nuclear bombing in
Switzerland and to the Idle County Seven.
Beier’s narrative range is formidable,
weaving a tapestry of multiple characters
and plot tributaries; the story’s paranor-
mal and quantum physics elements are
perhaps more evocative than the underde-
veloped thriller aspects. The many shifts
in perspective and time frame can be dis-
orienting, but Beier’s engrossing story-
telling leaves many questions intriguing-
ly unsettled. Ages 12–up. (BookLife)
Hope for Garbage
Alex Tully. Ann Phillips ( www.alextullywriter.com),
$7.99 paper (268p) ISBN 978-0-692-02483-6
In this overwrought coming-of-age
drama from first-time author Tully,
17-year-old Trevor McNulty endures numerous travails while trying to put a positive spin on a life filled with tragedy.
Trevor’s uncle, his only remaining family
after a mysterious accident claimed his
mother and siblings, is a bully. His only
true friend is Mr. T., his 70-year-old
neighbor whose favorite hobby involves
garbage-picking and restoring what he
finds for resale or donating to charity.
Things change when Trevor meets Bea
Stewart, a rich girl from a troubled family. Their initial bliss is shattered after
Bea’s mother makes advances toward
Trevor, setting in motion a catastrophic
chain of events. In recovering from this,
Trevor must face a past he’d rather forget.
Tully’s concept is solid, but Trevor’s rapidly compounding troubles verge on the
ridiculous, while his eventual triumph
doesn’t entirely hold up. Many characters
are two-dimensional—they’re either
saintly, like Mr. T. or Bea’s housekeeper
Lorene, or irredeemably flawed like
Trevor’s uncle and Bea’s mother. The nar-
