Cycler

AS FAR AS anyone at her high school knows, Jill McTeague is an average smart girl trying to get her dream date to ask her to the prom.

What no one knows, except for Jills mom and dad, is that for the four days Jill is out of school each month, she is not Jill at all. She is Jack, a genuine boy—complete with all the parts. Jack lives his four days per month in the solitude of Jills room. But his personality has been building since the cycling began. He is less and less content with his confinement and his cycles are becoming more frequent. Now Jills question about the prom isnt who she'll go with, but who she'll be when the big night arrives.

"The idea governing this debut novel is as fascinating as it is grotesque: for the four days before Jill McTeague gets her period, she is a guy — her body literally morphs, with a full complement of genitalia, body hair and musculature. Her male self calls himself Jack (the chapters alternate between Jill's and Jack's voices). Jill and her parents keep Jack caged in Jill's bedroom until he changes back into Jill, who then returns to school, her social life and her heterosexual romantic aspirations as if nothing has happened. For the first third of the book, the premise substitutes for a plot; at this point, Jack goes after Ramie, Jill's free-spirited best friend, while Jill learns that the guy she likes is bisexual. What with the escalating craziness of Jill/Jack's parents and the sex scenes (including Jack's responses to the porn his mother buys for him), the degree to which McLaughlin pushes toward the ever-more-disturbing seems gratuitous. The gender-bending premise, certainly guaranteed to grab teens' interest, is much more fun (and possibly more fruitful) to talk about than to read about here. Ages 14 — up. What is more fun to buy than a pair of shoes (except, of course, a pair of picture books)?" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

As far as anyone knows, Jill McTeague is an average smart girl trying to get a date to the prom. What no one knows, except for Jill's mom and dad, is that for the four days Jill is out of school each month, she is Jack, a genuine boy--complete with all the parts.

Lauren McLaughlin spent 10 years in the film industry, writing and producing films. She abandoned her screen ambitions to write fiction and is currently at work on the sequel to Cycler. Laurens Web site and blog are available at www.laurenmclaughlin.net. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.