Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

Dangerous Girls is a murder mystery that involves a group of teens in Aruba on their spring break holiday.

Anna Chevalier is a senior at a private school for Boston's wealthy, Hillcrest Prep. Anna transferred to Hillcrest at the beginning of her junior year. As an outsider, at first Anna experiences bullying from Lindsay Shaw and her posse of rich girls. But one girl from Lindsay's clique, Elise Warren, befriends her and that is the start of Anna's transformation from invisible wallflower to popular "it" girl.

Anna and Elise become close friends but Elise's influence on Anna is not a positive one. She begins skipping classes and lies to her father about going to parties and drinking. "...Elise...She was my catalyst. The glint in my eye, the giddy thrill in my stomach, the voice urging me to be louder, bolder, to blend into the background no more."

Anna first notices Tate Dempsey, one of the most popular guys at Hillcrest, a star athlete and member of the student government the summer before her senior year. Anna is struggling to deal with the return of her mother's cancer  and dreads having to cope with her mother's illness all over again. She first noticed Tate at a college party near the end of the semester just before summer vacation. Tate is different from the other popular, rich boys because he seems humble and caring. Tate wants to enter politics someday and so his parents urge him to be careful about what he does and how he behaves.

Their summer is spent at the beach and doing road trips. Over the summer Anna and Elise are soon joined by Max and Chelsea Day and an old friend of Elise's, Melanie Chang. Soon Tate's buddy Lamar becomes involved with Chelsea and Akshay Kundra also a friend of Tate, joins their group. Suddenly Anna has her own clique.

In their senior year, tension begins to develop between Elise and Anna, who is falling hard for Tate. Elise warns her not to take Tate too seriously, that he is only going to break up with her in a month or two. Anna suspects that Elise is jealous, especially when she begins to complain about how much time Anna spends with Tate and not with her. During spring break, the group decides to spend the holiday at Akshay's dad's house in Aruba. But their vacation turns deadly when Elise is brutally murdered during what appears to be a break-in. During the course of the investigation by prosecutor, Judge Klaus Dekker, the focus gradually shifts entirely to Anna.

Dangerous Girls is a fascinating murder mystery with a twist at the end that leaves readers truly wanting justice. Haas does provide her readers with clues to the twist throughout the book, but the reader isn't certain until the very last page of the novel.

Discussion

Dangerous Girls offers readers a good storyline with well crafted characters. Haas has created a complex and enigmatic character in Anna Chevalier, a girl who felt completely abandoned by her parents - an overworked father and a terminally ill mother, and who was an outsider at school. With the help of her best friend Elise, she manages to form her own clique, but her relationship with Elise is deeply enmeshed and ultimately proves to be harmful to Anna. Anna is unable to take responsibility for any of her actions and we see her constantly pushing the blame for her behaviour onto others in her life - her mother and her friends.

Elise is the quintessential party girl, and a young woman who uses her physical attractiveness to manipulate boys. She is emotionally manipulative towards Anna who appears to depend upon Elise for her emotional security. Elise is constantly pushing the envelope on what she can get away with, seeming to avoid the consequences of her actions.

Tate is characterized as a young man already willing to compromise his integrity to achieve his political goals of the future. Although one might excuse him because he's being controlled by his parents, nevertheless he is old enough to know that by lying to Dekker he has now become an accessory to murder. This is something he has to live with the rest of his life.

The storyline of Dangerous Girls is remarkably similar to the real life tragedy of American teen, Natalee Holloway who disappeared in Aruba in 2005 and whose body has never been found. It is likely she was last seen in the company of local resident, Joran van der Sloot and Deepak and Satish Kalpoe.

Haas captures many of the features of murder investigations in jurisdictions outside the United States; a group of wealthy senior high schools students vacationing on an island, a compromised crime scene with poor police work,  and often a slew of shadowy potential suspects that are never fully investigated either because they are wealthy tourist or locals.

Overall, this was an interesting read that touches on the themes of betrayal and revenge.

Book Details:
Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas
New York: Simon Pulse    2013
388 pp.

Broken by C.J. Lyons

At first this novel appears to be about a girl who has a serious health problem, however, as the story progresses readers will soon realize that there is more going on in Scarlet Killian's life than just her illness. Something sinister and deadly. The author weaves together several story lines, all with Scarlet at their center.

Fifteen year old Scarlet is attempting her first week at school - ever. She has lived most of her life in hospital, having been diagnosed with an untreatable heart condition that could cause her to suddenly drop dead. Despite the doctors not completely understanding her symptoms, Scarlet has been diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome which is a defect in the calcium pumps that control heart rhythm.

As a result, carries an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) she calls "Phil"  with her everywhere. Too ill to attend school, Scarlet has been home-schooled by her mother, who is a nurse. For Scarlet, this attempt at high school is her one and only chance to live a normal life. She wants a future that doesn't consist of staying at home being constantly monitored by her mother who feeds her pureed foods and vitamin pills as supplements.

But fitting in at school is going to be alot harder than she ever imagined. On her first day at Smithfield High, Scarlet with her AED in tow, manages to attract the attention of two boys; Mitch Kowalski, a member of the football team who immediately sets his sights on Scarlet as a target for his bullying and Jordan Summers who is her lockermate. When Scarlet meets Jordan, she finds herself attracted to him, causing her face to flush and her heart to pound. Scarlet's mom, who works as a nurse at the school,  insists on checking her over and then forcing her to take her vitamins. But Scarlet doesn't take the vitamins because they make her feel flushed and dizzy. Scarlet has discovered through her online searches, that her vitamins high niacin content are probably making her feel this way making her suspicious of the pills.

On her first day, Scarlet meets her peer support group that includes Nessa Woodring and Celina Price with Jordan as their peer mentor. Scarlet's first class is Grade 10 English taught by Mrs Gentry. Gentry has the class studying Tennessee William's, Glass Menagerie. To study further the theme of unreliable memory in the play, Gentry asks her students to keep a memory journal. During class she asks her students to try to recall their first memory and Scarlet realizes that she has few memories; Scarlet can remember books she's read but few details from her childhood.

In flashback, Scarlet does remember when she was thirteen - the year of "Nothing Good" as she terms it. It was during this year that Scarlet became suspicious that her stepmom was not only causing her symptoms but that she suspected she was trying to kill her too. Doctors had no explanation for Scarlet's symptoms and they decided to stop all her medication. This gave Scarlet the idea that maybe her mother was responsible for her illness. But Scarlet ended up back in hospital and almost died - and her idea that her stepmom was responsible seemed ridiculous.

When Scarlet has to leave school suddenly due to an incident involving Mitch who is intent on getting revenge for Scarlet standing up to him, Anthony (Tony) Carrera, a boy in her biology class stops by her home later on to return her textbook and notes. Anthony has been assigned to be Scarlet's partner in a bio project which is due the following Monday. Tony tells her their project is to trace back the medical family history and identify any possible genetic traits and analyze them. So Tony and Scarlet decide to trace back her condition as it is a genetic one.

Although Scarlet is initially skeptical of Tony's motives for partnering with her, she feels attracted to him. Tony is not intimidated by Scarlet's controlling stepmother, something that she also finds endearing. Tony seems to like her and doesn't look at her like she's a "problem patient or a diagnostic dilemma or a freak." Instead he looks at her like she's "the only thing in the whole wide world."

When Scarlet asks her stepmom to download her medical records on the computer, she refuses, telling Scarlet that she's not ready for the information in her medical records. So Scarlet decides to sneak the records from the USB key on her stepmom's keychain onto the home computer. Then as Scarlet begins to peruse those records she makes a startling discovery that she had a twin brother who died very young. The fact that Scarlet's father has never spoken about this troubles her.

In an apparent turnabout, the next day Scarlet's stepmom gives her a paper copy of her medical files, which Scarlet turns over to Tony for their project. Meanwhile at school, Scarlet sees her mother becoming overly involved in some of the students personal lives, misunderstanding situations and causing problems. Tony tells Scarlet that he wasn't able to locate the results of her genetic tests in the medical files that came from her mother. But when Tony begins to question Scarlet about the pills she's been taking, Scarlet begins to realize that something is terribly wrong. A crisis at school suddenly brings everything to a shocking climax, revealing the truth about Scarlet's illness and her stepmother's actions.


Broken is an interesting novel but there are some weak plot points; the biology project seems too advanced for Grade 10 and it's difficult to understand how Scarlet's stepmom could be a full time nurse at a high school and also homeschool her. The entire bullying situation Scarlet encounters at school seems over the top and unrealistic. Situations in the novel, which takes place over the span of five days, from Monday to Friday, seem to escalate quickly - in a matter of hours - making the ending seem hurried and contrived.

Because of the short timeline for the story, Lyon's spends little time truly developing the characters but the reader does get a good sense of who the main characters really are. Scarlet's manipulative and intense stepmother is creepy especially when contrasted with her kindly but absent father. Scarlet is obviously a good daughter who is beginning to question what is happening in her life and who wants more from life than what she has. This turns out to be her saving grace.

C.J. Lyons has chosen an interesting subject upon which to base a novel. The author who is a pediatrician, has seen cases of Munchausen by proxy syndrome and although it is considered rare, Lyon's believes it is more prevalent than reported. Overall, this was an engaging novel that deals with themes of honesty, betrayal, trust and friendship.

Book Details:
Broken by C.J. Lyons
Naperville, Illinois:  Sourcebooks Fire     2013
325 pp.

12 Years A Slave

"But I don't want to survive. I want to live!"

12 Years A Slave, directed by Steve McQueen, tells the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man living in pre-Civil War America, who was sold into slavery. In 1841, Northup, a well educated black man was living with his family in Saratoga Springs, New York. Married to Anne Hampton, a free black woman, they had three children, Elizabeth, Margaret and Alonzo Solomon Northup made a living playing his violin at the various hotels in Saratoga Springs in the summer but work was difficult to find in the off season. Anne worked as a cook in the United States Hotel.

In 1841 Solomon was introduced to two men, Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton who claimed to be entertainers wishing to engage him to play the violin in New York City. While in New York, they persuaded Solomon to travel with them to Washington to attend a circus. Slavery was legal in Washington, so they stopped to obtain a copy of Solomon's "free papers". However once in Washington, they drugged Solomon and sold him to James H. Burch who was a known slave trader. Brown and Hamilton claimed that Northup was a runaway slave from Georgia. Burch beat Northup and shipped him along with other blacks he had kidnapped to the slave market in New Orleans. There he was sold by Burch's partner, Theophilus Freeman to a Baptist preacher, William Ford who had a plantation in Louisiana. Ford had a reputation for treating his slaves well and Northrup wrote years later that he was a kind man.

Solomon with his family in Saratoga Springs.

In 1842, Northup was sold to John Tibaut who was a cruel man. Tibaut was unable to pay the full price for Northup and so owed Ford a debt of $400. When Tibaut tried to whip Northrup, Northup turned on him in self defense and then whipped Tibaut. Tibaut attempted to lynch Northup but was saved by Ford's overseer, Chapin.

Eventually Tibaut sold Northup to Edwin Epps, another cruel slave owner who frequently whipped his slaves if they did not work to his satisfaction. Northup spent ten years in hard labour on Epps' plantation. Epps hired an carpenter by the name of Samuel Bass. Bass was a Canadian who traveled throughout America working odd jobs. He had strong abolistionist views and it was this characteristic that made Northup take the chance and open up to Bass about his true identity. Bass agreed to write letters on Northup's behalf to  friends detailing what happened to him and where he was being held.

Finally, in 1853, Solomon Northup was freed by Henry Northup, a lawyer and a member of the Northup family who had once owned Solomon's father, Mintus. Epps was furious to have lost his slave and told Northup that had he known people were coming for him, he would have killed him.

Discussion

12 Years A Slave follows Solomon Northup from the time he was kidnapped until he was reunited with his family in New York. This is an intensely disturbing movie about the brutal and barbaric slave trade in America prior to the Civil War. Director Steve McQueen who likes to work with actor Michael Fassbender (who plays Edwin Epps) spares his viewers none of the violence that a slave would have experienced in 1841. The whippings, beatings, rape, sexual abuse and unparalleled cruelty that characterized institutionalized slavery are all present in the film. There is no sanitizing of this subject matter and it's hard viewing as it should be 150 years after the demise of slavery. Although this focuses on one man's experience, and he was lucky because Solomon Northup was one of the few actually rescued from slavery, his experiences mirrors those of hundreds of thousands of other black men and women throughout America prior to the Civil War. 12 Years A Slave is a courageous and extraordinary film. It is difficult to comprehend that an entire nation tolerated and practiced institutionalized slavery and even more difficult to understand why part of that nation even sent their sons to die for it.

Solomon Northup is ably played by London actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor who captures the despair, hope and the determination to survive that must have characterized Solomon Northup. Benedict Cumberbatch is the decent William Ford, still a slave owner, but a man trying to maintain some kind of integrity in a social order that views an entire race of people as subhuman. The stunningly beautiful  actress, Lupita Nyong'o plays Patsey, the slave Epps both physically and sexually abused. It's difficult to watch Patsey's suffering and to realize that what she experienced was very very common for beautiful young female slaves.

This movie is highly recommended but viewers should be aware of the nature of the subject matter and that there is nudity, violence, and rape.

Invasion by Walter Dean Myers

Invasion tells the fictional story of nineteen year old Josiah (Woody) Wedgewood, an infantryman who was part of the Normandy Invasion which took place on June 6, 1944, and heralded the beginning of the Allied drive to free Europe from Nazi tyranny.

Woody is part of the 29th Infantry set to land on Omaha Beach. Woody's battalion includes Sergeant Duncan, and mixture of Americans from different states and stations in life including Stagg, Gomez, Minkowitz, MacIntyre.

One day while waiting to get the go-ahead, Woody runs into a friend, Marcus Perry, from his hometown of Bedford, Virginia. Perry is part of a colored Transportation unit. Although they attended different high schools (Marcus went to a colored school), they know each other from working at Johnson's Hardware. Woody attended Moneta High School and has a younger brother, Ezra.

For the past several weeks they have been training for the landing, practicing climbing in and out of boats. There have been several abandoned attempts to initiate the operation, but weather has caused the delays. The troops require two consecutive days of good weather. While waiting Woody and the other soldiers discuss what it will be like in Europe. They are certain that the Germans will simply surrender, that there will be no heavy fighting. They take Eisenhower's warning to the French to stay off the roads as a sign that he has much confidence in the troops and that the invasion will be short and sweet.

Duncan tells his soldiers, "I told you that....This is a mop-up operation! The Germans don't want to fight." And even Woody is positive about the invasion. "I was feeling good about the invasion. I had read about how the Nazis had moved across Europe, crushing people and carting some of them off to work camps. But like Sergeant Duncan had said, they had never gone up against anybody like the United States Army. I knew our guys in the 29th were ready..."

However, nothing prepares Woody and his fellow soldiers for what they experience at Omaha Beach. "We have reached the sand. There are bodies every where. Men are dead or dying, their legs and arms are sometimes flung out, sometimes tucked under their lifeless bodies. Some are crying out."
He sees people that he joked with only hours earlier, now dying in the water.  Within hours many of the battalions have lost many men. Woody is in shock, having seen Sergeant Duncan die along with countless other men on the beach designated 'Omaha'. Woody is almost killed, but the bullet meant to end his life instead shatters his rifle.

When Woody and the other American soldiers who have survived the landing get to Vierville-sur-Mer, they regroup and form a new unit, under the direction of Lieutenant Milton. The new unit consists of Gomez, Shumann, Burns, Stagg, Minkowitz, Friehofer, Petrocelli, Scotty, Lyman, McIntyre, and Kroll. They are told that their next big objective is St. Lo.

Under the direction of Milton, Woody's group attempt to move across the French countryside, moving from one hedgerow to the next. It is a deadly battle as each hedgerow hides German soldiers who pick off more and more American soldiers. What was supposed to be a quick "mop-up" operation turns into day after day of artillery fire, snipers and gunfire battles, where every foot of ground is accompanied by death and fear. As Woody watches the men he trained with, those he talked with about Paris die, he wonders if he will make it out alive.

Discussion

Invasion is a well-crafted story designed to present the true nature of war to young readers. Although war and battles are often glamorized by film and novels, the reality of war is much different as many veterans of the previous two world wars, the Korean and Vietnam conflicts and the more recent Middle Eastern wars in Iran, the Gulf War and Afghanistan can attest. Myers presents these views through the character of Woody.

Soldiers are prepared for war to act and not think, to kill when necessary. Often the enemy is demonized in order to make war more comfortable. Of course, sometimes war is inevitable, in order to remove a deadly regime such as the Nazis. There are some things worth fighting for, but the cost is often enormous.

Woody's view of the Germans quickly changes as the novel progresses. Instead of seeing the Germans as easy and willing to give up France and Europe, his view changes once on the ground and engaged in battle. Woody now sees them as a very determined foe, unpredictable and difficult to fight. "I thought the Germans were a bunch of superhuman freaks who knew our every movement and a hundred ways of killing us."

Woody also begins to see the German soldiers as human beings after interrogating a captured German soldier named Helmut. Woody and Freihofer are ordered to find out if the young soldier is a spy. Friehofer tells Woody that in order to get himself home mentally and emotionally intact, he needs to think of the Germans as the enemy rather than as fellow human beings. However, Woody can't help but think about Helmut's life on the family farm.

Woody comes face to face with the brutal reality of war and it changes him forever. "On Tuesday, the sixth day of June, 1944, the world had stopped being what I thought it was." Woody has changed so much himself that six weeks after landing at Omaha Beach, when he meets up with Marcus Perry at St. Lo, Perry does not recognize him. Woody also has a sense of futility about the war. When the Germans are defeated at St. Lo he recognizes the paradox of their victory; the town is leveled and St. Lo doesn't exist anymore and he wonders how they can call it a victory.

Invasion is a realistic portrayal of the D-Day Invasion undertaken by the Allies to retake Europe from the Nazi regime. My own father who passed away this January, landed on the beach at Normandy in June, 1944, several weeks after the initial invasion forces. Like Woody and his fellow soldiers, my father experienced a great deal of fear. The beaches were bombed constantly by the Germans and my father who was a signalman with the Canadian army took cover with his buddies in trenches covered with corrugated aluminum. Like Woody he too had no idea what he was going into, what war was about, or the reality of what fighting in Europe would mean. He signed up in 1939, at the age of nineteen, looking for adventure - an old fashioned view of war, in spite of the realities that World War I offered. He watched a fellow soldier simply walk off into a forest in France never to be seen again, likely suffering from PTSD. My father often told me he was glad he never killed anyone during the war, but he felt he would have done so if necessary. He once told me about having to guard a German prisoner of war and being terrified. And when he returned home to civilian life in 1946 after being part of the occupying army in Germany, he couldn't bring himself to walk on grass for months because of a fear of land mines.

Walter Dean Myers lost a brother, Sonny in the Vietnam War and also had to deal with his eldest son deploy to the Middle East during the Gulf War. Myers states in his Note at the end of the novel that "The basic truth about war is that it is unbelievably brutal and I want my readers to understand that."  Myers has definitely achieved this goal in Invasion. Well written, gritty, and filled with a realism about war that provokes both consideration of the nature of war and gratitude for those who have fought for the freedoms we enjoy today.

Book Details:
Invasion by Walter Dean Myers
New York: Scholastic Press    2013
212 pp.

Champion by Marie Lu

Champion opens with Daniel Altan Wing (Day) living in San Francisco with his younger brother Eden. They have settled there so Eden who was made into a biological weapon by the Republic can recover from the effects of the experimentation done on him. Day is contacted by the Denver City Patrol requesting that he attend an emergency meeting in Denver during the Independence Day Ball. Day is also personally contacted by June Iparis, one of the Princeps-Elect. She tells Day that the Republic has received a communication from the Colonies stating that the plague is spreading throughout their war-front cities. For the last four months, the war has been on hold, while the Republic and the Colonies have worked on a peace treaty. That treaty is now off.

When Day travels to Denver and attends the emergency meeting he learns the truth about what is happening. The Colonies are demanding the Republic hand over the cure or they will invade the Republic with the help of the world superpower, Africa. June tells Day that they want him to bring Eden in for more experiments so they can try to find a cure for the new plague. Day refuses June's request.

After meeting with Day June attends the sentencing of those Patriots who intended to follow through with the assassination of Anden. Razor has already been executed and June attends the sentencing of Captain Thomas Bryant and Commander Natasha Jameson.

Meanwhile Day who has an infection in his hippocampus, suffers a severe setback and is hospitalized. Doctors treat him, changing his medication but tell him he has at most two months to live. While he is recovering at home, the Republic Armor is attacked by the Colonies. Due to the timing of the attack and the fact that both Bryant and Jameson are freed when their cohort of guards is changed, it appears that the Colonies are being aided by traitors within the Republic. At this time Eden is evacuated to Los Angeles.

Anden decides he must contact Antarctica for military help so he, June and the two other Princeps-Elects, Serge and Mariana travel there. June finds the Antarctican society to be much more technologically advanced. President Ikari refuses to supply military aid, instead offering scientists to help find a cure for the plague. He does indicate that Antarctica will supply military aid however, if they are offered land. Ikari also tells Anden that the Republic of America and the Colonies borders and ports must be sealed.

Denver falls to the Colonies just before Anden and June return to the Republic, forcing them to land in Los Angeles. There they meet up with Day at the Central Hospital where they learn that Tess has become ill with the plague. This event is the impetus that finally pushes Day to bring in his brother Eden for further testing.

At this time Day reveals to June that the Chancellor of the Colonies has offered him immunity as well as a guarantee of June's safety in exchange for Day leading the people into accepting the rule of the Colonies. Day has no intention of doing this but he knows he must come up with some kind of plan.

When the testing on Eden reveals a stunning result, and the Colonies prepare to attack Los Angeles, June and Day devise a plan to both  thwart the attack and force military intervention by Antarctica. Can they save the Republic from the Colonies' insidious grasp without losing everything they hold dear?

Discussion

Champion is a thrilling finale to the Legends series, with a page-turning climax that leads to a sad but hopeful ending. Lu ties up all the lose ends and even takes her readers ten years into the future. Readers learn a bit more about the larger world as June and Day step outside of the Republic to travel to Antarctica. The encounter an advanced society where behaviour is strictly monitored, where everything has points - a feature June soon tires of.

Like the two novels before it, Champion is well written and essentially plot driven. Nevertheless, Lu does a good job of developing the two main characters throughout the series, focusing on their heroic journey to creating a more just society. Day and June, although initially on different paths, band together to forge a new path, mirroring the journey the Colonies and the Republic take. Day began his journey to rescue his brother, reveal the true nature of the Republic and take it down in doing so. June was the Republic's prodigy but Day made her aware of what was truly going on. Both Day and June quickly discovered the Colonies did not offer the alternative they had hoped for. Instead, they end up working to save the very regime they worked so hard to bring down. And, as a result they just might affect society in the Colonies too. In many ways, Day and June are both very tragic figures who have lost everyone dear to them, and almost lose each other.

Readers will enjoy the action sequences which are well written. Lu maintains the tension by telling the story in alternating chapters written from June and Day's perspectives. The world map at the front of the novel helps readers develop a sense of the world June, Day and Anden live in.

Overall, a solid, exciting finish to a well written series.

Book Details:
Champion by Marie Lu
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 2013
369 pp.

The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die by April Henry

April Henry has crafted yet another riveting novel of suspense with The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die. The novel opens with an unnamed girl awakening to find herself a captive of two unknown men. She can't remember her name, nor how she came to be where she is - in a cabin alone. She has also experienced some kind of torture as she's missing two fingernails on her left hand and has a loose tooth.

The two men are discussing what to do with her. She panics when she one man tell the other to take her out back and kill her. As she is being dragged out to be "finished off", she overpowers the other man who is now alone with her, knocking him unconscious and taking his wallet, gun, cell phone and car keys. From his ID she learns his name is Michael Brenner.

After checking the cabin, the girl takes the SUV in the driveway and using the cell phone makes her way to Newberry Ranch - an Oregon Park security station.  At the security station she talks to Officer Dillow, telling him what has happened and how she doesn't remember who she is or how she came to be at the cabin. He is skeptical of her claims, but she shows him her injuries and Brenner's wallet.

Shortly afterwards, Dillow fields a phone call which he says is from the Bend police station. He tells her that he will take her to the Bend station where they have police officers who can deal with her situation. He manages to get her into the police car back seat and when she is safely locked in, Dillow tells her that he received a call from a Dr. Nowell who informed him that her name is Katie and that she is a inpatient at the mental hospital, Sagebrush. Dr. Nowell also tells Dillow that Katie attacked a counselor, Michael Brenner, there and that without her medication she hallucinates.

While Katie doesn't know if any of this is true but she does know that the story doesn't quite add up because of her injuries and the fact that she has Brenner's gun. Katie forces Dillow to release her at gunpoint, from the police car and driving Brenner's SUV sets out to try to learn the truth and find someone she can trust.

The person turns out to be a guy named Ty working at the McDonald's in Bend where Katie stops to buy a meal. Ty surmises that Katie is in trouble and when two men come looking for her at the fast food restaurant, Ty manages to throw them off long enough to get her safely to his apartment. With the help of Ty, maybe Katie can recover her memory and find out why she is being hunted by mysterious men in black, who want her dead.

The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die is exciting and fast paced, as Cady faces one situation after the next. The plot twists keep readers guessing until the last chapters unfold to a appealing resolution. Henry weaves together a complicated storyline containing murder, kidnapping and torture all in order to make millions from a potential biological weapon.

While readers don't know much about Katie, who we later learn is really Cady, a nickname for Cadence, she is presented as a resourceful, quick-thinking girl with a touch of martial arts skills. The story is told from her point of view, so the reader is uncertain at first as to how reliable a narrator she really is. This only adds to the deepening mystery of why Cady is being tracked down.

The star is really Ty, a quirky student living on his own, who demonstrates compassion and courage as well as a determination to stick by Cady no matter what, even when it appears she might at last be safe. The bad guys in the novel are presented as typical cardboard men in black who talk in tough cliches but seem mostly inept at coping with a teenage girl. But none of that really matters because the reader is more concerned with the outcome for Cady.

Readers wanting a quick suspenseful read will enjoy Henry's latest in her canon of short mystery thrillers.

Book Details:
The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die by April Henry
New York: Henry Holt & Company    2013
213 pp.

DVD Movie: The Impossible

On Sunday, December 26, 2004, countries bordering the Indian Ocean experienced one of the deadliest natural disasters, an enormous tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean. Over 230,000 people died in fourteen countries from the tsunami which produced waves approximately 100 feet high. Most of the dead, injured and missing were locals from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. These countries are also popular tourist destinations for Westerners, who enjoy vacationing at resorts in Indonesian and Thailand over Christmas. As a result many tourists also lost their lives, with most families losing at least one member. But for the Belon Alvarez family from Spain, the impossible happened - the entire family survived against all odds. The Impossible tells their story.

Maria Belon Alvarez and her family consisting of her husband Quique (Enrique) Alvarez and their three sons, ten-year-old Lucas, eight-year-old Tomas, and five-year-old Simon, had only just arrived at the resort in Khao Lak, Thailand on Christmas Eve. On the morning of December 26, the family was lounging at the resort's pool when Maria heard a thunderous noise that she could not identify. Instantly she and her family were swept away, through the churning waters filled with debris and bodies. 

Maria and her son Lucas managed to find each other quickly and cling to a tree. Maria had serious injuries including a terrible chest wound and a more serious deep wound to her leg. They took refuge in a large tree but Maria could feel her life ebbing away. Eventually they were found by a Thai man who dragged Maria through the swampy area to a village and then made sure she was taken to a hospital. Lucas was certain he would not have survived if he had not jumped into the resort pool as the wave hit.

Meanwhile her husband, Quique had lost his grip on the two boys, Tomas and Simon. However, he found both boys clinging to trees. Determined to find Maria and Lucas, Quique left Tomas and Simon with adults at the hotel and limped through dozens of hospitals and camps before finally locating Maria and Lucas at Takua Pa Hospital. Eventually the family made its way to Singapore where Maria was treated further for her serious injuries.

Discussion

The Impossible accurately portrays the experiences of the Belon Alvarez family during and after the tsunami, switching out the nationality of the family to that of a British family and changing their names to Maria and Henry Bennett. Maria Belon was intimately involved in the process of making the movie, choosing her favourite actress, Naomi Watts to portray her and working on location in Thailand where the movie was filmed to ensure their story was faithfully retold.

Central to The Impossible is a story that is both overwhelming and unbelievable. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor give solid performances as Maria and Henry Bennett, in shock, disoriented, wounded and yet struggling to save their children and to process the magnitude of what has just happened to them. Maria who was a doctor, knew her life was in danger and feared that she would die leaving Lucas alone. Lucas played by Tom Holland, knew he needed to be strong, to encourage his critically injured mother to survive.

Although the scenes portraying the tsunami seem incredibly realistic, they are obviously nowhere near what survivors and victims encountered. Yet likely due to Maria Belon's presence during filming, small details are present in the movie that survivor accounts mention; the flight of birds away from the seashore, a sudden unexplained wind and the screams of people in the water. Even the water, turbulent, brown and filled with deadly debris of all kinds was accurately portrayed. This was best demonstrated by the flashback Maria has during surgery, showing her being battered by all manner of debris, tree branches, broken chairs, glass and objects that can't be identified. It's easy to understand how so many people died not just from drowning but also from terrible injuries due to the debris. Most people who ended up in the water did not remain clothed as Maria and Lucas were; the force of the waves simply ripped away all clothing. The movie does hint at this when Lucas is traveling with his mother to a hospital and he sees a completely stark naked man, dazed, walking by the side of the road. 

The Impossible also captures the state of confusion in hospitals and make-shift camps which are quickly overwhelmed with injured survivors and people searching for lost family and friends. In some places the water traveled up to  two kilometers inland, devastating villages and crops. Yet despite the horror of what happened, despite having lost everything they owned, as the movie shows, the Thai people selflessly helped tourists, seeing that they were brought to hospitals to be treated. Maria experienced this, when she was dragged through the mud by a Thai man who ensured she was transported to hospital. The movie also portrays the patience and kindness of the Thai people in coping with a disaster of gigantic proportions in a country lacking the resources and infrastructure to do so.

The Impossible was criticized for whitewashing - that is taking Third World tragedy in which the majority of people who were affected were brown people, Indonesian and Thai - and making a movie about a white family who eventually returned home to their lives in Spain without having to deal with the lasting devastation. However, this movie is about a unique story - a family, who against enormous odds, everyone survived - the impossible. It tells one family's story and that is all. It does not minimize the impact the tsunami had on the local population nor does it trivialize their suffering. There are scenes where we see dead Thai people and a truckload of children most of whom are Thai. We see the devastated countryside and villages.

Be prepared for a movie that packs an emotional punch unlike many of the disaster films that have preceded this one. Though one family is the focus here, the emotional, economic and human costs of the 2004 tsunami tragedy are evident even in the last shots as the family flies out of Thailand to Singapore. The Impossible was directed by Juan Antonio Boyona. As an interesting aside, the producers decided to make this film after hearing Maria Belon speak about her family's experiences on Spanish radio. If you missed this movie in theatres, it's time to watch it on DVD.

BBC Documentary: Pompeii: The Mystery of People Frozen In Time

Narrated by Margaret Mountford, this documentary seeks to answer two questions: How exactly did the people of Pompeii die and why are their bodies so beautifully preserved. Mountford's is shown around the amazing ruins of Pompeii by Paul Roberts, Head of the Roman Collections at the British Museum.

Unlike many historic volcanic eruptions, Pompeii provides a very unusual archeological setting; the casts of Pompeii preserved real people which makes them unique.

The eruption began on August 24, 79 AD, heralded by a powerful earthquake in the morning. At 1pm Vesuvius erupted violently. A huge column of ash 14 km high was pushed into the atmosphere. It became dark as night and pumice, ash and chunks of solidified lava began to rain down on the city. In less than one hour, the column was 32 km high. It was thought that the ash was responsible for killing the people of Pompeii by causing them to suffocate. This was based on the statue of a muleteer with his hands covering his face which was seen as evidence that the people suffocated by ash. But this interpretation was questioned by some including Dr. Peter Baxter or Cambridge University who felt that the sitting posture of the man did not suggest suffocation?
If they didn't die from the ash, what did cause their deaths and the unusual positions of many of the people in death?

Body cast of muleteer

Herculaneum, a smaller city of five thousand to the west provided the clues. Herculaneum was a city of mainly very wealthy Romans who holidayed there. It was closer to Vesuvius and therefore felt the eruption much more strongly. There were very few human remains found and it was assumed the population of the city fled in time. However, in the 1980's a group of sheds near the harbour were discovered. In these sheds and in their vicinity during excavations, some 300 skeletons were discovered. Dr. Pier Paolo Petroni states that based on the condition of the skulls, which are fractured and blackened inside, there is evidence that these people were subjected to very high temperatures, high enough the cause their brains to boil and explode. Their bodies were reduced to skeletons. Like Pompeii there was no lava found in Herculaneum, suggesting a very different kind of eruption.

Pliny the Younger, a Roman magistrate was a witness to the eruption of Vesuvius. His letters to the historian, Tacitus, describing the eruption in great deal have provided geologists and archeologists with valuable information on the eruption. Twelve hours after the initial eruption, Vesuvius was still spewing forth large volumes of ash and gas. Pliny wrote about a great mass of material which swept down the mountainside. His description was not fully understood until the eruption of Mount St. Helen's in 1980, in which a pyroclastic flow, of approximately 700 C flowed horizontally for 10 km, destroying everything in its path. It appears Herculaneum and the people in the the boat sheds experienced a similar event during the Vesuvius eruption.

One of the casts in Pompeii is that of a woman with her arms raised. It was thought that this woman was defending herself against an attacker but now it is understood that her position is characteristic of a person who was killed by intense heat, causing her to raise her arms, with the arm muscles contracting permanently in this position which she remained after death. Could there then have been a second pyroclastic flow from Vesuvius that reached Pompeii? And if so why are the remains of the people there so different from those found at Herculaneum?

Pompeii: The Mystery of People Frozen in Time is a fascinating reconstruction of this historic disaster that has captured the imagination of archeologists and the public for decades. The reconstruction of the faces of two people who died in the disaster put a human face on this tragedy that occurred two thousand years ago.

Movie: Catching Fire

The second installment in the Hunger Games franchise, Catching Fire is now playing in movie theatres across North America. Directed by Francis Lawrence, the movie is based on the novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins.

Upon her return to District 12, Katniss Everdeen is stunned to learn that she has become a symbol of rebellion against the Capitol. She learns this from President Snow who unexpectedly visits her home in the Victor's Village. He tells her that she must convince people in the districts that she and Peeta Mellark are in deeply in love or their families will be in grave danger. He will not tolerate rebellion. Snow recognizes Katniss is a danger to the Capitol and he intends to have her eliminated.

However, when Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch and their entourage arrive at District 11, their first stop on their Victory Tour to the Capitol, people flash the three-fingered symbol of rebellion. This leads to some acts of resistance and a brutal response by the district's Peacekeepers. It is at this point that Haymitch and Peeta learn of Snow's ultimatum. They encourage Katniss to try to give Snow what he wants. Even after they announce their engagement,  Katniss and Peeta do not succeed in satisfying Snow and he decides to exact his revenge on Katniss.

Since the 75th Hunger Games is a Quarter Quell, President Snow decides that the tributes from all the districts will be reaped from the existing Hunger Games victors. In shock, Katniss cannot fathom having to go through another Hunger Games.  As it turns out many of the other victors feel the same way as they were promised by the Capitol that when they won, they would never have to face the games again. Katniss decides to confront Haymitch and make him promise that he will do whatever it takes to ensure that Peeta survives. At the reaping ceremony, Peeta steps in for Haymitch whose name is drawn and once again, all three find themselves heading to the Capitol to begin the Quarter Quell. At the Capitol Haymitch tells them that many of the tributes want to form an alliance with them. They decide to work with Finnick Odair and Mags from District 4, Wiress and Beetee from District 3and Johanna Mason from District 7.

President Snow now has a new Head Gamemaker, Heavensbee Plutarch, who suggests that the other tributes will turn on Katniss and kill her. But President Snow is in for a surprise. There are traitors lurking everywhere.

Discussion

As with the first movie, the second installment in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire was very well done - in some ways, even better than The Hunger Games. Again, the screen adaptation stays true to the novel and there are many new, well cast characters. Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, and Donald Sutherland all reprise the roles they had in the first movie. 

Jennifer Lawrence was able to capture the raw emotion one would expect Katniss Everdeen to be experiencing when she learns that she must once again face the games. She also effectively captures the growing conflict Katniss feels regarding Gale and Peeta: she has a friendship with Gale who loves her but he can never fully understand what she has experienced in the games, while Peeta loves her but Katniss seems "indifferent" as President Snow claims.

New characters in this movie include Johanna Mason, a deeply traumatized tribute from District 7, played with realistic volatility by Jena Malone. Movie fans of Pride and Prejudice will remember that she played the giddy, silly Lydia Bennett in the 2005 remake. Victor Tributes from District 3, Beetee Latier played by Jeffrey Wright and Wiress played by Amanda Plummer, daughter of Christopher Plummer, join Katniss in resisting the Capitol. There is Panem's new Head Gamemaker, Heavensbee Plutarch, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman who effectively captures the Gamemaker's subtle balancing act of pretending to be a faithful citizen of the Capitol when in fact he is a secret rebel. 

Catching Fire is well paced, with lots of special effects, some frightening scenes, and many exciting action sequences. The Hunger Game scenes are especially well done, with this Games being set up like a clock. The deaths of the tributes are off screen, but this doesn't diminish the sense of danger that Katniss, Peeta and Finnick experience as they struggle to stay alive. 

One aspect this movie adaptation offers over the books, is insight into the character of President Snow, portrayed by accomplished Canadian actor, Donald Sutherland. Since the author, Suzanne Collins has been involved in the movies' productions and is herself a screen writer, she is able to add further context in the movie adaptations. This is especially so when Peeta is electrocuted by the force field and is revived by Finnick Odair. Watching from the presidential palace is Snow with his young granddaughter, who states "Some day I want to love someone that much."  Katniss's love for Peeta, something until this point even she was not fully aware of, is apparent to even Snow's young granddaughter. Snow's attempt to destroy Katniss and Peeta isn't working as planned, as he believed Katniss did not love Peeta. However, he now realizes that forcing them together may not have worked as he planned.

Mockingjay, the final movie in the trilogy will be split into two movies, the first of which is due out in 2014.

Deceived by Melody Carlson

Deceived by Melody Carlson is a cautionary tale that tackles the issue of cults by focusing on a cult similar to the breakaway sect of the Mormon church, The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, headed by Warren Jeffs who was charged and convicted of the sexual assault of two under-aged girls. He is currently serving a life plus 20 years sentence.

Seventeen year old Rachel Hebert is spending her summer working at Nadine's Natural Ice Cream Parlor at the Rock Canyon Lake Resort. Rachel is living in the women's barracks along with other young women who are working at the resort. But Rachel's Christian faith means she doesn't participate in all the partying and drinking that goes on outside of work hours. This difference in values causes tension between Rachel and many of the other young women, leading her to feel isolated and alone.

Added to the stress she is experiencing at the resort, is that in her personal life. Life right now for Rachel is unsettling and confusing. Her mother announces to Rachel that her divorce is now finalized. This leaves Rachel questioning her parents belief in the permanence of marriage as their actions demonstrate otherwise. Rachel feels unmoored and distraught by her mother's willingness to leave Rachel at the resort for the entire summer while she "moves on", which Rachel takes to mean starting to date again.

Despite her lack of girlfriends, Rachel does make one good, twenty year old Josiah Davis, who lives with his uncle, the Reverend Jim Davis who runs both a new church and the Lost Springs Dairy. Josiah, who is from Australia, has been in the US for five months supposedly on missionary work. He told his mother this to escape the overbearing situation at home where his mother and step-dad belong to a radical religious sect called God's Eternal Church (GEF). Josiah's parents once both belonged to this sect, but his father left. Josiah works doing deliveries for the Lost Springs Dairy, the ice cream supplier for Nadine's shop.

Josiah is kind-hearted and respectful towards Rachel, who is completely smitten by him. Josiah shows genuine concern for Rachel, able to pick up on her down moods as she copes with the aftermath of the break-up of her family and also her troubles working at the ice cream parlor, where her coworkers do not like her. After going out on a date which they both enjoy, Josiah invites Rachel to attend his uncle's church. Rachel agrees and after going on a tour of the dairy, she attends two services which are held on the large complex that includes rustic cabins housing men and women who live simply. There are hints that Josiah's uncle's church might not be all that it seems, but both do not pick up on them. Both Josiah and Rachel are in need of stability and companionship in their lives right now and Reverend Jim's church appears to provide that. Meanwhile, a very lonely Rachel finds herself falling fast and hard for Josiah.

Rachel experiences an unexpected blow when she is framed by her co-workers and fired by Nadine for supposedly stealing two hundred dollars from the shop till. Unable to pay her road and board at the resort, Rachel calls Josiah in a panic. He suggests that she can come live at his uncle's compound but that she will have to work in order to stay there. Rachel accepts partly because she does not want to tell her mother what happened at Nadine's; she is afraid her mother might side with Nadine who is a good friend. But Rachel also sees Josiah's offer as a chance to spend the summer with him. Unwisely, Rachel does not tell her mother or Nadine about her move to Lost Springs.

As Rachel settles into Lost Springs, she begins to take note of troubling aspects of life in the compound. Men and women are kept apart, all her personal belongings including her cell phone are taken away from her and women are not free to walk around the compound unaccompanied. Miriam, the older woman with whom Rachel shares a rustic cabin, tells her that they are in the end times and that Reverend Jim is God's chosen prophet. But when Rachel learns several difficult truths about Reverend Jim's church, her doubt turns to fear and she begins to realize that she needs to leave before such a choice becomes impossible.

The issue of cults is an good one to explore through the medium of a fictional novel. Cults are still a serious threat to young people who are often dealing with family and identity issues and whose lack of life experience makes them especially vulnerable. Carlson creates a "perfect storm" for both Josiah and Rachel. Both teens have lost their safety net of the adults in their lives due the break up of their families and the loss of at least one parent from the young person's life. However, not all teens at risk from cults come from broken homes - plenty who are successfully recruited come from two parent homes. In this regard, Carlson's novel is somewhat misleading. The reasons why people join cults is not fully understood, nor why they remain.

The story is told by Rachel, who comes across as self-righteous and annoying in the first half of the novel. She's always on her co-workers case about the cleanliness of the ice cream stand and looks down on her peers as lazy and unmotivated. Unfortunately, we don't get to see Rachel change much in the novel, nor how the experience in the Reverend Jim's church changes her. She does rediscover her faith though when she finds herself in a dire predicament. The likable character in this novel is Josiah, who treats Rachel honorably and who owns up to making a mistake in getting involved in this strange church.

Carlson includes a short study guide at the back of the novel, but no resources or bibliography on cults for teens to explore further. This novel is part of her Secrets series that encourages teens to think about various issues relevant to their lives. Overall, it is a simple, general treatment of an issue that still is of concern to parents today.

For further information on cults check out Info-Cults in Montreal which is an excellent resource on cults.

Anyone truly interested in reading about cults should read Moonwebs: Journey into the Mind of a Cult by Josh Freed. I read this book in the early 1980's when it was first published and the "Moonies" were a real and visible presence in shopping malls (I was approached once by a recruiter) and airports in Canada. Family and friends of Benji Miller had to kidnap him and spent months deprogramming this brilliant young man, who was very resistant to many of the techniques used to deprogram cult victims. Freed details the extensive brainwashing techniques used on Miller in this cult.

Book Details:
Deceived: Lured from the truth by Melody Carlson
Colorado Springs: NavPress 2012
213 pp.