Moonsick

Gr 9 Up–Heidi is a rich high school senior dealing with nothing more serious than not being accepted into Harvard and trying to get along with her social circle and her mother—all during a pandemic of a rampant virus that turns its victims into werewolves. When she is infected, Heidi finds her perspective on her friends, her family, her social privilege, and her life in general that is changing and broadening. She becomes involved with a diverse group of infected terrorists led by the charismatic Rhea. But Rhea has a plan for the future world that Heidi cannot accept. The horror scenes are visceral and gory. The writing in O’Donnell’s debut YA horror novel, however, is pedestrian, with dialogue that is already dated and a setting and characters that feel one-dimensional; meanwhile, the tone wavers between comic, satirical, and horrific, none of which quite works with the subject matter. Main characters cue white.