Synopses & Reviews
A taut psychological thriller for teens Seventeen-year-old Jeff thought he would never again have to deal with his older brother, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence. But after six years, Troys sentence has been overturned on a technicality and he is released from prison. He returns to a family deeply divided about having him back home. Jeff cant forget how his life was disrupted by his brother, how his family had to move to another state and start over. Still, his parents believe things will be different now. But Troys return makes a mess of Jeff s life - at home, at school, and with his girlfriend. When Jeff s rival on the soccer field turns up missing, Jeff suspects Troy is involved, and he sets out to prove it. But nothing could prepare Jeff for what happens as he gets closer to the truth.
With unexpected flashes of humor, David Klass once again gives readers a gripping, multilayered novel about good and evil and the powerful bonds of family. Dark Angel is a 2006 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Review
"Though readers may find the ex-convict overblown and many supporting characters little more than markers for message delivery, Jeff is both interesting and sympathetic." Booklist
Review
"Klass's suspenseful psychological thriller has credible teen concerns and perspectives and a chilling and thought-provoking ending." Hornbook Guide to Children
Review
"[T]he sober style suits the gravity of the story." School Library Journal
Synopsis
Seventeen-year-old Jeff thought he would never again have to deal with his older brother, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence. But after six years, Troy's sentence has been overturned on a technicality and he is released from prison. He returns to a family deeply divided about having him back home. Jeff can't forget how his life was disrupted by his brother, how his family had to move to another state and start over. Still, his parents believe things will be different now. But Troy's return makes a mess of Jeff 's life at home, at school, and with his girlfriend. When Jeff 's rival on the soccer field turns up missing, Jeff suspects Troy is involved, and he sets out to prove it. But nothing could prepare Jeff for what happens as he gets closer to the truth.
With unexpected flashes of humor, David Klass once again gives readers a gripping, multilayered novel about good and evil and the powerful bonds of family.
About the Author
David Klass is the author of many young adult novels, including Dark Angel and You Dont Know Me. He is also a Hollywood screenwriter, having written more than twenty-five action screenplays, including Kiss the Girls, starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, Walking Tall, starring The Rock, and Desperate Measures, starring Michael Keaton and Andy Garcia. Klass grew up in a family that loved literature and theater—his parents were both college professors and writers—but he was a reluctant reader, preferring sports to books. But he started loving the adventure stories his parents would bring home from the library—particularly Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson and Alexandre Dumas. After his sister twice won a story contest in Seventeen magazine, Klass decided he would win it too, and when he was a senior in high school, he did, publishing his first story, “Ringtoss,” in the magazine. He studied at Yale University, where he won the Veech Award for Best Imaginative Writing. He taught English in Japan, and wrote his first novel, The Atami Dragons, about that experience. He now lives in New York with his wife and two small children.