Changing Jareth Changing Jareth

Wennick's ambitious first novel follows a Canadian teenager as he struggles to escape his troubled life. There are some powerfully gritty scenes, but unfortunately they tend to get lost in an excess of plot developments. Seventeen-year-old Jareth narrates his own story in three parts, all with melodramatic names: Corruption, Redemption and Hope. In them, he robs an old man, causing him to have a fatal heart attack, discovers his mother killed his brother, Brad, during a drunken rage, tries to kill himself and ends up in a psychiatric ward, then flees to Toronto where he meets street kids more lost than he is. In a bizarre plot twist, Jareth then saves a suburban boy from becoming a drug dealer. Each subplot could spawn a novel of its own, but strung together they are overwhelming. However, there are moving moments in between. After Brad's gruesome murder, for example, Jareth mourns him, sitting in his room ("" `I miss you, kid,' I whispered. I didn't want to speak out loud anymore""). Readers will find themselves caring about Jareth, despite his mean exterior, but they may well be distracted by the nonstop hurdles in his path. Ages 12-16. (Mar.)