Streams of Babel

VOYA

AGERANGE: Ages 12 to 18.

The lives of small-town teens with a mysterious illness and a Pakistani boy working as a virtual spy for the Americans intersect in this gripping story. Plum-Ucci is known for riveting mysteries, such as The Body of Christopher Creed (Harcourt, 2000/VOYA August 2008), wherein aspects of the story unfold bit by bit, keeping readers enthralled until the very end. As with her previous books, this one does not disappoint. The seemingly straightforward death of Cora's mother causes gossip but no suspicions until others develop similar deadly symptoms. While government officials debate the likelihood of a bioterror attack in an insignificant suburb, sixteen-year-old language expert and Internet café proprietor Shazad Hamdani uncovers hints of a plot that may kill thousands. Plum-Ucci excels in making her characters seem real and skillfully captures the voices of a variety of youth. The first ten chapters unfold rather methodically and readers may wonder how the various plot lines will merge, but the pace picks up and the story's threads are brought together in ways designed to keep readers on the edge of their seats. Good and evil are strongly defined in Plum-Ucci's world, but people of various nationalities and ethnicities are found on both sides of the divide. The timely topics of bioterrorism and Internet spying may fascinate some, whereas others might find the horrific possibilities too close to home. Fans of suspense will discover a thrilling ride. Reviewer: Catherine Gilmore-Clough
April 2008 (Vol. 31, No. 1)

KLIATT - Paula Rohrlick

Don't drink the water…in this bioterrorism thriller, it's poisoned with a substance called Red Vinegar that can cause fatal strokes and aneurysms. A brilliant 16-year-old Pakistani "v-spy" or virtual spy, who scans Internet chatter for a US intelligence agency, comes across references to this new threat and tries to warn people in time. A Korean American hacker helps find information too. In New Jersey, Cora is trying to deal with her photojournalist mother's death from Red Vinegar and searches through her notebooks and tapes for clues about the father she never knew. Her neighbor Scott, a young paramedic whose mother died from Red Vinegar as well, realizes his brother Owen and a girl named Rain are developing the same symptoms. Then Cora and Scott start to become ill too. Who will survive, and what will it take to catch the bad guys? Told in brief chapters from the alternating viewpoints of the six main teenaged characters, this tense mystery is all too believable. Award-winning author Plum-Ucci keeps the tension high all the way through, and she creates credible characters who converse the way teens actually do, swear words and all. The red-tinged cover featuring a city skyline and water gushing out of a pipe will attract attention to this up-to-the-minute tale of spies and terrorists in our midst. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick

School Library Journal

Gr 8-11- In 2002, high school outcast Cora Holman's mom dies of a mysterious brain aneurysm, preceded by flulike symptoms. Then Cora, Owen Eberman, and two of their friends gradually come down with a similar ailment. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, 16-year-old computer genius and cyber-spy Shahzad, who is working for the U.S. government, has uncovered information about a terror threat called Red Vinegar, and he is taken to New York in order to follow the terrorist chatter more directly. Through the alternating narratives and interwoven lives of six teens (including the child of a terrorist working on behalf of North Korea), Plum-Ucci offers a compelling tale of bioterror. It is, however, unclear why she chose to depict a group of religious terrorists celebrating by "popping champagne and drinking forties," unless, perhaps, it is to indicate hypocrisy in their ranks. The characters, particularly Shahzad, are well drawn and have unique voices, and the unresolved ending leaves a lot of room for thought and discussion. Ultimately, this is a tautly paced thriller that will force readers to think about the complexities of living in a post-9/11 world.-Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH

Kirkus Reviews

It's February, 2002, in Trinity Falls, N.J., a sleepy little suburban town south of New York City. The impact of 9/11 ripples throughout the world, but teenagers here are still wrapped up in standard high-school issues: Who's going to be my date? Will I win my next wrestling match? Will I ever be accepted? Then two women die, on the same block, of the same mysterious symptoms. Why? Is it a new flu? Or something even more deadly? Half a world away, a computer prodigy stumbles across clues hidden in Internet chatter, and the need to solve the puzzle leads to a pulse-pounding showdown. This is a story about the threat of bioterrorism as seen through the eyes of the generation that will grow up with it as a reality, not just as a fictional bogeyman. The teens are the focus here, all excellent character studies drawn adeptly with few words. The swift pace grabs the reader right from the start, with a page-turning intensity. Plum-Ucci takes the incredible and makes it all too believable. (Fiction. YA)