Cold Fury

Gr 8–10—Sara Jane Rispoli is no ordinary teen. While she's worried about the regular stuff-boys, friends, and the upcoming school dance-she also has to contend with situations nobody her age should. Coming home after school one day, she finds her front door ajar and the house ransacked. While investigating, she is attacked by a large man in a black ski mask. Her instincts take over, and she begins an epic run for her life that, she hopes, will uncover the truth about why her family vanished and whether or not they are still alive. While some passages of this story are engaging, including action sequences that are forthright and expeditious, they can't mask the weaker elements, including unrealistic dialogue and poor characterization. While Sara Jane's uncle and his mysterious wife serve their intended purpose as the novel's chief antagonists, their motivations are never clear enough to justify why they are willing to kill Sara for her mysterious silver briefcase. Crooked Detective Smelt and her seemingly endless army of evil police officers are more like campy caricatures than believable villains. Sara Jane herself is never really a protagonist readers will get behind, as she seems more interested in cracking corny jokes about those chasing her than actually saving the family she claims to care so much about.—Ryan Donovan, New York Public Library