Finn

Beginning just after a fatal airplane crash and ending shortly after a nearly disastrous forest fire, this tense novel about a teenage survivor will attract both adventure buffs and fans of psychological drama. When 15-year-old Finn moves to his grandmother's (Gram's) farm in Vermont, his severe injuries, resulting from a plane crash that killed the rest of his family, are no more painful than his emotional turmoil. Although his therapist insists he must ""walk through"" each step of the tragic accident in order to recover his power of speech (he suffers from posttraumatic mutism), Finn consciously attempts to shut out recurring, horrific memories. Finn's misery lessens when his sister's friend Julia, an accomplished equestrian and dancer, enters the scene. Together, the pair befriend a wolf-dog blamed for recent sheep slayings, and happen upon a stash of cocaine left in a well on Gram's property by a ring of drug dealers. When Julia is caught by one of them, Finn is forced to take action. Bacon's (Pip and Emma; Shadow and Light) less than subtle writing leaves little to the imagination (e.g., ""From years of watching TV and reading mystery novels Julia knew that witnesses to crime were doomed""), but her montage of heart-racing scenes and complex rendering of Finn will keep the pages turning. Ages 10-14. (Nov.)