Exposure

Sexting leads to big trouble for two teenagers in Fowler's Picoult-lite latest, a cautionary tale more intent on hammering home its message than in creating believable characters. Anthony Winter, a charismatic 18-year-old raised by a single mom, is dating Amelia Wilkes, a nice girl from a wealthy, conservative family that doesn't want her in a relationship with a student who can afford private school only because his mother teaches there. Kids being kids armed with camera phones and digital cameras, they e-mail each other nude digital photos, and when Amelia's father comes across pictures of Anthony on his daughter's computer, he calls the police, and a nightmare begins for all involved: Anthony faces being branded a sex offender, and Amelia gets in trouble with the law as well. Unfortunately, Fowler diminishes the power of her story with a cast of predictable, two-dimensional characters (i.e., Amelia's controlling father is bad; Anthony's supportive mom is good) whose sole purpose is to move the plot forward. (May)