Shadow

Thirteen-year-old Sarah Shaheen's family thinks she is crazy when she tells them she has been seeing the ghost of her dead cat, Shadow. However, the new maid (conveniently, a psychic) has also felt a ghostly feline presence in the house, and she is sure that the beloved pet is trying to communicate a warning. Meanwhile, Sarah's two brothers, Patrick and Brian, become embroiled in a heated rivalry over a girl. As their quarreling becomes increasingly vicious, Sarah's visions grow clearer and more insistent. It will probably take the reader less time than the heroine to figure out the meaning of her recurring premonitions. Nonetheless, Sweeney holds audience interest as the tensions within the Shaheen household rise to a feverish pitch. Although Sweeney used dream sequences more effectively in The Tiger Orchard, this latest novel, which challenges conventional views of reality, does offer believably complex characters, and some of the book's gimmicks are subsumed by the author's psychological study of jealousy and denial. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)