Doomsday

Peel (the Eerie Indiana series) debuts a futuristic, thrill-a-minute serial, 2099, that will attract computer buffs as well as science-fiction enthusiasts. This first installment introduces four key players: Tristan, a 14-year-old boy growing up during the height of the digital age; Devon, his desensitized clone; policewoman Taki Shimoda; and Genia, a crafty 16-year-old crook who resides in the Underworld. The ""doomsday"" nightmare begins when Devon, born and raised without human interaction, unleashes a computer virus that spurs a series of mechanical failures and mass deaths. Tristan (unaware that he has a clone) accidentally logs on to Devon's account, discovers the virus and temporarily stops it in its tracks. In doing so, he exposes his identity to Devon and places himself in grave danger. Enter Shimoda, who is determined to discover the root of the recent chaos, and Genia, who holds a vital computer chip that could either save or destroy the world. With action whirling at a dizzying rate around all four figures, readers may be left too breathless to analyze their motives, morals and connections to one another, which is just as well since these issues are, for the most part, swept under the rug. Characters are less thoroughly developed than their cyber-game of cat and mouse, which leads to a cliff-hanger ending just as civilization is about to fall. Ages 8-13. (Sept.)