My Name Is Sus5an Smith. the 5 Is Silent

Two competing plot lines clash in Plummer's work , but never meld into a unified whole. In the first, 17-year-old Susan wallows in a romantic attachment to her Uncle Willy, the man who abandoned her mother's sister 10 years earlier. In the second, Sue struggles to develop her exceptional talent as a painter and stand up to her disapproving mother. Although most of the characters are well-drawn--including the charming, sociopathic Willy--the scenes dealing with Sue's obsession are unconvincing. As the novel progresses, episodes about the girl's artistic development fade into the background. The action deteriorates into an uninspired set-up for Willy's next piece of villainy, and the initially well-drawn characters flatten out to two dimensions. The result is just another predictable YA shocker without much voltage. Ages 10-14. (June)