Cycler

The idea governing this debut novel is as fascinating as it is grotesque: for the four days before Jill McTeague gets her period, she is a guy—her body literally morphs, with a full complement of genitalia, body hair and musculature. Her male self calls himself Jack (the chapters alternate between Jill’s and Jack’s voices). Jill and her parents keep Jack caged in Jill’s bedroom until he changes back into Jill, who then returns to school, her social life and her heterosexual romantic aspirations as if nothing has happened. For the first third of the book, the premise substitutes for a plot; at this point, Jack goes after Ramie, Jill’s free-spirited best friend, while Jill learns that the guy she likes is bisexual. What with the escalating craziness of Jill/Jack’s parents and the sex scenes (including Jack’s responses to the porn his mother buys for him), the degree to which McLaughlin pushes toward the ever-more-disturbing seems gratuitous. The gender-bending premise, certainly guaranteed to grab teens’ interest, is much more fun (and possibly more fruitful) to talk about than to read about here. Ages 14–up. (Aug.)