British author Prue (Cold Tom
) blends realism with a dollop of fantasy in this compelling novel of a boy reeling from a horrific bullying episode. As half-term break begins, narrator Stevie is being coaxed by a gang leader and his cohorts to set fire to the wastepaper bin in the library; he sorely wants to fit in but fire terrifies him. He manages to delay his dilemma as he goes on a long weekend at the beach with his parents and his six-year-old sister, Claire, who is a "mixture of Genghis Khan, Vlad the Impaler, Tinkerbell, and a PE teacher." At the beach, Stevie finds a type of fossil called the devil's toenail. Soon the stone attempts to manipulate him, its sinister voice preying on Steve's fears and goading him to commit crimes. As Stevie alternately yields to and resists its baleful influence, he also divulges shocking information: he is badly disfigured and still traumatized from being set on fire by kids at his former school. The climactic scene is literally a cliff-hanger: Stevie can save his imperiled sister or let her tumble to her death, and in Prue's psychologically astute storytelling, his decision cannot be easily foretold. The fossil as a kind of reversed deus ex machina, while clever, takes second place to the sheer drama of Stevie's slow confrontation with his personal demons. Ages 12-up. (June)
