Charm and Strange

CHARM AND STRANGE by Stephanie Kuehn, St. Martins Griffin, 2013.

Andrew Winston Winters has a wolf inside him. That is the only way to explain the sudden bursts of violence that overtakes him, the only way he has of dealing with his past. In chapters that alternate between Drew's childhood and his adolescence, Kuehn slowly reveals the story of drew, the young and vulnerable boy and Win, the teen left to his own devices at boarding school where an horrific murder has taken place. Was it a wild animal who committed this crime? Or is the villain much closer than that? Drew/Win each wrestle with the darkness inside.

Quick on the Trigger

FORGIVE ME, LEONARD PEACOCK by Matthew Quick. Little Brown, August 2013.

Quick (author of THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK gives readers an inside look at a teen pushed beyond the fringe, tottering on the edge of life. On his birthday, Leonard Peacock hides a gun in his backpack and heads off to school. Today is the day he has selected to kill his former best friend and then himself. What else can he do? His mother is more than absentee, and his closest relationships are with his Bogart-loving elderly neighbor and his history teacher who is instructing less-than-enthusiastic kids about the Holocaust. Quick spins out the story of Leonard and how he has come to believe suicide is the answer in short bursts of information, always leaving the reader guessing and wanting more (sort of like Leonard himself who is trying best he can to figure out his path in this world). Leonard is a kid readers will come to admire: his sharp mind and quick sense of humor are winning. Because of that, readers will stick to this story hoping that somehow Leonard will find redemption and salvation.

Spy Games

Hosting a foreign exchange student does not turn out quite the way Perry had envisioned. Gobi from Lithuania, is not interested in much having to do with the family. She is not the hot chick Perry anticipated either. All that changes when Perry's father persuades (forces) him to take Gobi to the prom on the same night his bad was to perform in New York. After a confrontation with some bullies, Gobi persuades (forces, at gunpoint) Perry to take her into the city. She has a score to settle, a score that involves murder and mayhem. <354>

Each chapter opens with a question ostensibly posed on a college admissions form. That question forms a frame of sorts for the events of the chapter. This is a darkly funny work that seems at times to be a fantasy and at other times is a chilling realistic story. Lots of chases, car thefts, violence, and a little romance, this book should appeal to readers who enjoy an action packed tale.