Synopses & Reviews
Based on an actual crime in 1955, this YA novel is at once a mystery and a coming-of-age story. The brutal murder of two teenage girls on the last day of Nora Cunninghams junior year in high school throws Nora into turmoil. Her certainties—friendships, religion, her prudence, her resolve to find a boyfriend taller than she is—are shaken or cast off altogether. Most people in Elmgrove, Maryland, share the comforting conviction that Buddy Novak, who had every reason to want his ex-girlfriend dead, is responsible for the killings. Nora agrees at first, then begins to doubt Buddys guilt, and finally comes to believe him innocent—the lone dissenting voice in Elmgrove. Told from several different perspectives, including that of the murderer, Mister Deaths Blue-Eyed Girls is a suspenseful page-turner with a powerful human drama at its core.
Review
"A moody, spooky page-turner."--
School Library Journal"The serpentine story . . . will grip readers . . . [An] exciting adventure, which hardly allows readers a moment to take a breath."--Booklist (starred review)
"Grippingly suspenseful."--Kirkus Reviews
Review
"This sequel to the outstanding Streams of Babel (2008) more than lives up to its predecessor's standard. A taut read, it's hard to put down, with characters readers will care about and plenty of momentum. Humor is deftly woven into both character development and dialogue, lightening the mood at just the right spots. A must-read, all-too-contemporary page-turner."--Kirkus, starred review"Sexual tension and fragile relationships are part of the story as much as the terrorist hunt is, and the two couples fears about their own possible impending mortality will captivate a high-school audience."--Booklist
Review
A Kirkus Best Teen Book of 2012 * "An engrossing exploration of how a murder affects a community."—
Kirkus Reviews, starred review "This is a thinking-teen's mystery."—
Bulletin "Hahn emphasizes the universality of growing up and facing death."—
Horn Book * "This wrenching novel offers an aggregate portrait of the effects of loss and grief, including both the strengthening and dissolution of relationships."—
Publishers Weekly, starred review "This creepy tale slowly and craftily builds tension . . . It has the added feature of offering a unique snapshot of life in the 1950's."—
School Library Journal "The veracity of this tragedy raises the stakes for readers who are already fans of Hahn's supernatural fiction, and the coming-of-age component of Nora's shattered naïveté is all the more searing."—
BulletinSynopsis
ShadowStrike poisoned the water of Trinity Falls two months ago. Now the Trinity Four, the teens most affected by the poison, have been isolated in a remote mansion, under twenty-four-hour medical care while scientists on four continents rush to discover a cure. Meanwhile, U.S. operatives scour the world for the bioterrorists responsible for this heinous crime, as two teen virtual spies, also infected, hunt for the criminals on the Internet. The danger remains real—for ShadowStrike has every reason to pursue the Trinity Four, and their evil plan will unleash a new designer virus thats even deadlier than the first.
Synopsis
A haunting search for truth from a Printz-Honoree
Synopsis
On a rainy night eight years ago, Evan Barrett's parents were lost at sea. In horror, he listened to their frantic Mayday calls on the ship-to-shore radio, to his mother's cries for mercy--and to the deafening shrieks that answered her back.
Now seventeen, Evan has gone in search of answers to his parents' strange disappearance. The only explanation that makes any sense to him is that they were swallowed up by The She, a legendary sea creature that devours ships. But when Evan's quest for the truth uncovers shocking allegations against his parents, he must deal with the possibility that everything he knows about his family is a lie.
Includes a reader's guide.
Synopsis
This fictional re-creation of a crime that happened in Mary Downing Hahn's Maryland hometown in 1955—the murder of two teenage girls—is at once a mystery and a coming-of-age story. Told from several perspectives, including that of the murderer, this latest work from the award-winning and best-selling author is sure to captivate readers.
About the Author
CAROL PLUM-UCCI is a graduate of Purdue University and has received numerous awards and citations in entertainment and business writing. She is the author of The Body of Christopher Creed (Harcourt, 2000), which was named a Michael L. Printz Honor book and was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award. She lives in New Jersey.