March 5, 2007
De la Cruz (the Au Pairs series) invents a dark world against an L.A. backdrop in this novel, giving readers plenty to puzzle over and ponder. A fictional social networking Web site called TAP.com lies at the center of this story about a missing rock star, the girl who loved him, and rich boy Nick, who is learning to see beneath the surface. Johnny Silver, Taj's boyfriend and "the kind of star that spoke for a generation," literally vanishes from the stage, and he is not alone. Nick's sister goes missing, and soon, so does his best friend. Through Taj's and Nick's alternating perspectives, readers not only watch the mismatched pair fall for each other, they learn TAP's secrets, from the "otherworldly" punch served at the site's sponsored parties, to the strange ritual that happens in the parties' secret rooms. ("TAP—The Angels' Practice... the website was only the beginning. It was also a movement, a phenomenon, and a drug," says Taj.) Nick suspects the Web site is connected to the disappearances. Memorable secondary characters people the novel, such as Taj's drag queen uncle, Mama Fay, and Sutton, Johnny's teen manager with "the smile of the devil." But the story wraps up before readers get enough of them. Teens may have trouble tracking all the pieces of the mystery, but will compulsively turn the pages—and be haunted by the story's provocative themes, such as the underbelly of social networking sites, and why "sixty percent of America's teenagers believe they will become famous." Ages 14-up.
September 29, 2008
Ruditis begins his first original series, Drama!, with a bang: "It was a drag queen's worst nightmare. There were four of them onstage... high school girls, that is, not drag queens." Bryan, the "Drama Geek" who narrates, considers himself a "background player" in his own life. But after strange accidents happen to the multiple Dorothys cast in his Malibu high school's production ofThe Wizard of Oz , he takes on a bigger role to protect his best friend, Sam (short for Samantha), who is playing one of the leads. When one Dorothy (Suze) has an allergic reaction to her lunch, Bryan thinks it may be an accident; but when nude pictures of another Dorothy get posted on the school's Web site, he realizes that someone did it on purpose. He suspects Heather, yet another Dorothy. The book has a wisp of a set-up (under parental pressure, "the headmaster... decreed that every student who tried out would get 'a role of substance,' " hence four girls share the lead role), which stands in sharp contrast to the dark pranks (to stop the allergic reaction from killing Suze, Bryan has to inject her with epinephrine). Despite these tonal shifts and a rather meandering plot, the hero's narrative brims with fun touches, such as the stuffed dog emporium he visits to collect four identical Totos. Readers will find Bryan an authentic character, and feel for the closeted gay boy within who is "slowly moving up in the cast list of my life." Ages 12-up.