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Synopsis
A complex and haunting novel from a Printz Honor Award author and two-time Edgar Allan Poe Award finalist
KLIATT
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