Skin

In the riveting opening scene of Vrettos's first novel, narrator Donnie comes home to discover that his 16-year-old sister has "starved herself to death." He then retraces the events that have led up to this point, including his parents' rocky marriage and his own part in driving a wedge between his sister, Karen, and her new friend, Amanda. Trying to get back with what his sister calls his "loser friends," Donnie lets them think that something happened between himself and Amanda while they all spent a vacation in a cabin by the lake. But Karen's self-destructive behavior begins when the gym teacher calls her "curvy," which Karen interprets as "fat." The characterizations are at times uneven. Readers never find out, for instance, why Amanda ultimately forgives Donnie, though his so-called "friends" who quickly tire of the Donnie-Amanda connection comes across as entirely credible. And the author implies the importance of other supporting characters, such as Donnie's Aunt Janice and cousin Bobby, and two twin classmates new to town, without fully developing the relationships between them and the main characters. But Karen's struggle with her disease, and Donnie's own feeling of invisibility come across as piercingly authentic. His vain attempts to secretly put protein powder in Karen's food and water, and to reach out to others are among the book's most powerful scenes. Vrettos is a writer to watch. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)