cover image THE SHADOW PLACE

THE SHADOW PLACE

Carol M. Tanzman, . . Millbrook/Roaring Brook, $15.95 (180pp) ISBN 978-0-7613-1588-9

Lissa, the 14-year-old heroine of this issue-driven first novel, faces a dilemma: what should she do when she suspects that her neighbor and childhood friend, Rodney, is planning a horrible crime? For years Lissa has sympathized with Rodney, even before his alcoholic but gentle mother left him in the care of his bullying father, but the teen's compassion for Rodney competes with her desire to fit in with her friends at school, who ostracize him. Now Rodney appears to be becoming violent—could he be the one who tampered with the showers in the boys' locker room, scalding his tormentors? When his mother returns briefly only to abandon him again, Rodney snaps, and only Lissa knows Rodney well enough to observe the dangerous combination of his rage and his growing obsession with weapons. Lissa's attempts to voice her concerns about him are invariably silenced by obtuse adults ("That's nonsense," her mother says when Lissa complains about Rodney's father's cruelty. "Rodney loves his father. All Bob's yelling goes in one ear and right out the other"). "Transcripts" of computer chats (replete with argot like "I gg 2, cya L8r") lend some authenticity to the voices of the teens, but slow the pace, already burdened by an overlong set-up. While Lissa's many doubts and tentative measures are realistic, they also interfere with the development of suspense. Ages 11-14. (Aug.)