The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom

Fiewel and Friends, 2017

 Gwendolyn Bloom isn't enjoying school today.  Being pointed out by "that girl" and her friends while everyone else laughs at you isn't what she planned or wanted.  But this is just another stop along the string of schools she has attended, which may or may not last long.  It's on days like this she wishes her mother was there, but she can't be.  When Gwendolyn was ten years old, her mother passed away. The memories she has of that day, filled with terror and confusion, won't stop.

Her father, who is a foreign diplomat, has taken Gwendolyn around the world.  New York is the current place they call home.  Without a mother, her father is the only parent she has and she treasures that.  But one evening, after coming home, her father isn't there....nor the next night...and Gwendolyn keeps waiting. Eventually she is taken in by the older Jewish couple in loco parentis until her father shows up. And things take a turn....

One day, while Gwendolyn is alone in her apartment, a knock is heard.  Behind it are men in black searching for her father, but also through his papers and computers, asking her what he's told her about his job.  They're from the US government and for the first time, Gwendolyn is realizes what her father does.  The men looking for him are wondering is he still a spy for them or has he defected? The last known place in Europe he was detected was recorded before he went off the grid.

With only a scrap of information Gwendolyn stops at nothing to find her father.  With some help, she begins training in krav maga with a Mossad agent before getting entangled in the dark and dirty world of racketeers, arms smuggling and human trafficking.  One clue leads to another. Gwendolyn knows she's running out of time...unless it's already too late.

This book goes from zero to 100+ quickly.  The reader's emotions for the main character jumps for empathy to encouragement to excitement as they see her morph and change into someone who will pull out all the stops.  The dark world of criminals makes a large nod in this novel including introducing minor characters, all victims of human trafficking.  It's not sugar coated, but it isn't gratuitously graphic is nature either.  Teens reading this book may begin to connect with what's happening in the real world and see a larger picture.  Although others may see the rising action as a tad unbelievable, I enjoyed every page.  It reads like a Jason Bourne novel, only with a kick a** female character.  Recommended for upper JH/HS

With Malice by Eileen Cook

HMH Books for Young Readers, June 2016

Jill and Simone have been best friends since they were little girls.  As they grew up, their friendship stayed intact even though the girls couldn't be more different.  Now, in their senior year of high school, their paths suddenly diverge in a tragic way...

Jill continued to live with her mother after the divorce.  It's not that she doesn't love her father...it's more that she doesn't belong in the new family with the big house and new wife.  Jill knows her father supports her, financially, if not emotionally, and she's relying on this for her future.  Jill has always been a dedicated student and Ivy League college is waiting for her after graduation. 

Simone's life is much different.  She doesn't have the financial support to be able to leave after college.  And....she hasn't always been the most studious of girls.  What Jill has in academics, Simone more than makes up for in popularity.  People are naturally attracted to her and because of this, Simone knows how to work a crowd. 

One trip changed their lives...

Both girls were excited to go on a study abroad program in Italy sponsored by their school. Now, after the trip, Jill is recovering in a hospital, her memories affected by aphasia.  Simone didn't come home.  An incident involving both girls only left one alive. 

But Jill isn't only plagued by aphasia.  She is being investigated by the Italian police in a murder case, where she is the leading suspect in the murder of her best friend.  One intentionally wrecked car, one knife, two girls.  Jill isn't only surrounded by her family, but also by lawyers and a media team, trying to repair the negative reputation she is getting on social media.  Now the Italian police want to extradite her back to Italy to possibly stand trial.  Her future is slipping away from her. 

Slowly, the investigation begins to open wider and people are coming forward with eyewitness accounts of the girls friendship turning ugly as well the involvement of an Italian with a sketchy background who became involved with both girls.  And slowly, Jill is beginning to recall what really happened.

Suspenseful, intriguing, provocative.  Cook writes a novel filled with all of these components as well as some very interesting characters.  The reader won't know who to trust because of the secrets and lies everyone is telling.  Or are they truly lies?  That's what so amazing about this book- there are such subtle twists and turns the reader won't know the truth until the very end.  And when they get there, they will be stunned.  And THAT'S what makes this a great YA read!  Highly recommended. 

Shackled by Tom Leveen

2015, Simon Pulse
Pelly and Tara were best friends until Tara disappeared.  What was just another ordinary day turned into a nightmare, in which Pelly went home and Tara never did.  This left a deep emotional scar on Pelly, where she was afraid to leave the house, suffered from severe panic attacks and went through rigorous therapy.  Now, as a teen, Pelly is taking it one step at a time, making her entrance into a world she tried so hard to avoid.  To try to maintain a "normal" life, she gets a job at a local coffee shop where she and David work the counters.  However hard David tries to engage Pelly, she won't respond.  It's not part of her safe world she's willing to let go of right now.

And then THEY comes into the coffee shop.  He looks like he has his daughter with him, treating her to a coffee, but Pelly is shocked, not only with what she sees, but what she hears.  Tara had a small mole on her neck, and this girl has the same mark.  Pelly isn't sure if her eyes and mind are playing tricks on her until she hears to the girl whisper, "help me" as she leaves, in tow behind the non-descript man who ushers her into his car and speed away.  Pelly KNOWS it's her friend Tara and all of the hard work she's done to get back out in the world disappears as swiftly as the car her friend got into.

Although David didn't see what she did, he is willing to help her because he believes her.  This is something Pelly isn't used to because no one, not even the police, believes her story.  All she has is the description of the car and the license plate number, but that's all she and David need to track down the man and find out if he is the abductor who took Tara years ago.

And when they finally arrive at their destination, they are confronted with a brutal truth....something much bigger and more unexpected than they could have imagined...

Leveen writes a dark novel about an equally dark part of society - those that prey on the young and weak without anyone believing they are psychopaths in disguise.
Ripped from today's headlines, this story mirrors the horrific incident surrounding Ariel Castro and his home in Cleveland and Leveen does an excellent job in creating a fictional novel with equally realistic characters and plot development that allow the reader to question whether Pelly hasn't quite healed emotionally orshe really did see what she thought she did.  The author creates two main characters who are very much opposite but together, their opposites make sense. The reader will begin to slowly peel the layers apart until the ending where they find the heart of the matter may not be what they expected.  Recommended for upper JH/HS

Alive by Scott Sigler

Random House, 2015

Em woke up panicking in the dark.  She doesn't know where she was, doesn't know who she is, doesn't know why she is here.  Frantic, she broke out of the coffin she was in to find even more coffins in the same room. 

Some survived, others didn’t.  Those who did survive have five things in common:   

The last thing thing remember is their age: 12 years old
They are all wearing the same uniform, now too short on their grown bodies
Today is their birthday
They only know their last name (because of a label on the caskets)
They are all branded with a unique circle on their foreheads.

Savage.  Spingate. Bello. O’Malley. Yong.  Aramovsky.

The survivors find their way out of the enclosed room they came from only to find themselves in another terrifying mystery.  Outside, there is death and complete destruction.  Nothing is alive as they look at their escape route – a long hallway to nowhere containing other halls and rooms filled with the same details as the one they escaped.  Only no one in those rooms survived.  Then begins their walk to find their way out. 

Questions and memories begin to start conversations.  They remember vague things like their parents, a particular food, or a talent they possess but have no idea how.  The biggest question looming is who could possibly want to bury them alive for years and try to keep them alive?  They have so many things in common, but commonality doesn’t always weave a perfect pattern.

Long hallways and five strangers begin to strain their tenuous hold with each other.  Who can they trust?  Who should they follow?  Which one is dangerous?  But more importantly, where can they find food and water? 

Scott Sigler knows how to grab readers’ attention and hang it by a thread.  The readers follow these survivors on their harrowing journey knowing only what they know.  There is no omniscient perspective allowing the reader to know more, which makes this book such a suspenseful thrill ride.  We are more like the tail end of the line, watching what happens next, and what the reader does see are the personalities of each survivor coming more into focus.  One is the leader, the other is the lieutenant; the others are followers, willing or not.  It’s not until the reveal that the reader finally understands what is happening and why survival is so important.  The first chapter will grab you, the next ones will keep you in the story.  And then BOOM….realization finally happens and you’ll race to the end to find out the final ending.  First in a trilogy. 

Recommended upper JH/HS

Booktrailer: Tabula Rasa by Kristin Lippert-Smith

Google link (if Youtube is filtered at your school:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-wHb5Nsjhy0eXZVOGRIZmNlTjQ/view?usp=sharing

Tabula Rasa by Kristin Lippert-Martin

Egmont, 2014

Sarah is in a the Center, head clamped into a halo, waiting for the drilling to begin.  She knows this is all part of the process for her and others in the hospital suffering from PTSD.  She takes her meds like she's supposed to, until one day an orderly hands her a note that reads:

"Take one pill at a time, at 24-hour intervals.

24 hours exactly.

Remain still after taking."

And the chain of events to fight and survive begin....

Sarah doesn't know her past very well because they are being erased one at a time to ease her PTSD...or is that what's happening?  The Center is creating a tabula rasa experience by slowing taking all things Sarah may have known through interactions and previous knowledge and giving her a completely blank slate.  A new start in life.  What the patients don't know is this is only the surface of what the Center is doing for its patients.  Sarah was complacent, at the least, with her decision but the truth about what the Center is truly about begins to crumble and her past life and memories they are trying so hard to erase is coming back, making connections...

At first she only knows bits and pieces, but slowly she realizes why there are people slowly hunting her down, who will stop at nothing to see her dead.  As the bullets fly and the people she knows dies, Sarah runs for her life straight into a stranger named Thomas, who has his own reason for being part of the Center's takedown.  Their relationship is tentative at first, not knowing who to trust or why each one should but when the walls surrounded their mysteries come down, doubt is replaced by a solid partnership and assurance which grows stronger between the two.

Together, Sarah and Thomas make a formidable alliance against the adults tracking their every move through stealth and state-of-the-art devices.  With Sarah's strength and daring paired with Thomas's finesse with computer hacking, both prepare for the battle ahead.  They meet both friends and strangers who become enemies or allies, which only adds to the fury that burns in Sarah when she finds out what that initial first cryptic message really means.  But can she survive an army of mercenaries with the help of one?

New YA author Kristen Lippert-Martin writes a story filled with action, plot, motive and deceit. Readers will instantly get drawn into the chaos fighting alongside the characters while the plot will keep them on the edge of their seats, waiting for more of the truth to be revealed.  This book will attract readers who love high intensity situations.  Think of movies like Mission Impossible or Taken and that is the mood Lippert creates through words and what mental images come to the readers mind.  This is one considered an ultimate page-turner!  Recommended upper JH/HS

Book Trailer: The Living by Matt de la Pena

Also available to view on Schooltube:  http://www.schooltube.com/video/1f98e3c6eda442c9914a/The%20Living%20by%20Matt%20de%20la%20Pena

Can be downloaded on the NHS Library Digitalk Booktalk page: http://www.nisdtx.org/Page/3590