SAVING JASEY

As the saying goes, if a gun appears in scene one, it must go off by the final curtain. This rather melodramatic first novel follows suit, as it chronicles one family's dysfunction and another's misfortune. Eighth grade narrator Gavin is bullied by his 15-year-old brother, Blake, and infatuated with the sister of his best friend and neighbor, Trist. Trist and his sister, Jasey, are dealing with Huntington's disease, which spurred their father's suicide and threatens to claim their beloved grandfather. Gavin, meanwhile, struggles with school, his father's emotional and physical abuse, and his mother's withdrawal from the world, as he watches his father's legacy being handed down to his older brother. To make matters worse, Gavin discovers that Jasey is dating Blake. In a tabloid ending, Blake attempts to shoot first his mother, then Jasey and, in a turn of events, Jasey prevents him from taking his own life, but not from paralyzing himself. In one moment, Jasey realizes she has been saved, Gavin's father is softened, and the balance of power is shifted between Gavin and his brother. A few qualities help to redeem this overwrought tale: the first-person narrative will draw in readers; the author nicely weaves in Gavin's reading of Gary Paulsen's Hatchet (though unnamed) as a parallel story; and many of the protagonist's feelings at the cusp of adolescence are believable. Unfortunately, Gavin's evil father and brother, and his weak mother, come off as cardboard stand-ins that detract from the hero's more full-blooded rendering. Ages 12-up. (Feb.)