The Fool Reversed

Whitcher (Enchanter's Glass) has hit her stride with this probing, acutely observed novel about a girl's dangerous first liaison. Anna is only 15 when she falls in love with Thorn, a poet nearly twice her age, and begins a sexual affair. Anna, an aspiring poet herself, takes Thorn's self-serving behavior as signs of artistic integrity: ""He won't settle for what's ordinary,"" she tells her friend Dylan. ""Thorn told me once, if he can't be good, at least he'll never be petty."" Readers will see that Thorn is a predator, pushing Anna into unsavory situations, including a sexually decadent, adults-only costume party at which he all but delivers her to one of his patrons. Capable of sharp, introspective analysis, even without the help of the tarot cards for which the book and many of its chapters are named, Anna is blind when it comes to Thorn. While it seems a bit unbelievable that none of Thorn's associates is bothered by his treatment of Anna, the individual characters are carefully constructed and very real, from the pretentious Thorn to Dylan, a wild-haired teen with both street savvy and wisdom (""You don't have to be anybody special... to be miserable,"" he tells Anna. ""But for contentment, you have to be a philosopher""). The conclusion, in which Dylan is shot by two newly introduced characters, is jarring in comparison with the book's otherwise deliberative pace, but doesn't compromise the impact of Whitcher's memorable scenes and insights. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)