Mind Snare

VOYA - Kevin Beach

This futuristic tale, set in the year 2158, is more of a thriller than a sci-fi adventure. It includes many advanced technologies, such as vac hounds (roving vacuum cleaners that sniff out and eliminate litter), a vaccine for the AIDS virus, a brain box (an experimental and illegal device that can keep a human's brain alive separate from its body), and a sophisticated network of inhabited space stations that orbit between the Earth and the moon. The plot involves Jere and Glenn, a mother-son acting team who are part of a traveling troupe that hops from one space station to the next. In this company, the males perform the female roles so must retire upon reaching their fifteenth birthdays; females play the male roles and continue to act all of their lives. Glenn celebrates his fifteenth birthday glumly, since he will give up the fame he has earned from his performances, and he ponders what the rest of his life will be like. In a parallel storyline Rose, the ambitious wife of a TV faith healer (yes, they are still around), has risen to the forefront of a breakaway faction of the Catholic Church. This rather ruthless woman discovers her husband once had an affair with a traveling actress, Jere, that produced a son, Glenn. Consumed with revenge, Rose seeks to kill them both. Jere is nearly burned alive in a fire, but Glenn has a techno-whiz place her brain in the brain box, which allows her to communicate through a digital readout. Rose, meanwhile, sends her daughter, Glenn's half-sister and a trained assassin, to finish the job. She must choose between a growing fondness for her new-found brother and her vow to serve her mother's cult. All of this ultimately leads to a murder, kidnapping, and a fight to the death in an arena at the televangelist's headquarters on Earth. Interesting characters, many of them teenagers, populate the story. The dialogue is quite realistic, and Greeno-who previously penned a successful fantasy trilogy in the Ghatti's Tale series-makes good use of romance, humor, and action to keep the story fast paced. The violent action is graphic. Young readers might get bogged down by political intrigue involving the pope and the ayatollah (don't ask). But the book is exciting, and each chapter's log entry format-date, time, location-is enjoyable. Unfortunately, the large number of mistakes in this uncorrected proof made the reading frustrating and difficult. I am sure the final product will be much better. VOYA Codes: 4Q 3P J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses, Will appeal with pushing, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9 and Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).