Perry’s Killer Playlist

Following the literally explosive events of Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick, 18-year-old Perry Stormaire’s life has both settled down and markedly improved. His band, Inchworm, is on the rise, and he has a new, well-connected girlfriend, Paula, who has just helped book Inchworm on a 12-city European tour. Too good to be true? Oh, yes, it is. No sooner do Perry and his bandmates arrive in Venice then he’s reunited with Gobija Zaksauskas, the lethal and gorgeous Lithuanian assassin-for-hire who Perry attempted to take to prom in the previous book. The story deploys like machine-gun fire in clipped, feverishly paced chapters (each named after a rock song) as Gobi and Perry race across Europe with a trail of bodies and destruction in their wake. Schreiber has a way with similes (“A third blast, and all of Europe jumped and shook itself off like a wet dog,” narrates Perry under rocket-propelled grenade assault in Switzerland), and the nonstop action, romantic intrigue, and everyteen haplessness on Perry’s part remains an incendiary combination. Ages 14–up. Agent: Phyllis Westberg, Harold Ober Associates. (Nov.)