Gabriella Mallory is the epitome of the ideal teen daughter and student: straight As, accepted to every college applied, not dating until college, etc. Gabi's world is significantly rocked when someone plants a bomb in the school. The bomb was never intended to go off, but served as a threat of things to come. In response, the school puts together an anonymous crisis hotline made up of select teens from all social circles to give students the opportunity to reach out, be heard, and receive referrals. Is this a helpline to assist students or to weed out the bomber? Or, could the crisis line be made up of prime suspects? When "stranger," the bomber, starts targeting and trying to communicate with Gabi, things get personal.Though this book is pitched as a suspenseful mystery/thriller, it lacks substantial clues or explored motives that would have helped to propel the narrative. Instead, it veers towards romance/drama as Gabi becomes involved with Miguel, a fellow crisis line colleague. Insta-love abounds after he takes her to a Quinceanera. Unbeknownst to Gabi, Miguel is the son of their maid, which the reader is reminded of repeatedly. His presence seems to be an attempt at diversity, but his characterization is contrived and could be viewed as offensive to Latin Americans. All characters are introduced, but not fully explored or developed, leaving the reader to depend on high school clichÚs and generalizations. The bomber, once introduced, becomes very obvious, further spoiling the momentum. The novel is sprinkled with excerpts from "A Stranger's Manifesto" which adds aspects found in a psychological thriller, but not enough to save it. This is an interesting premise with a gripping, edge-of-your-seat ending, but overall, the unrealistic plot, disagreeable characters, and little-to-no suspense make this title a poor choice for one seeking a mystery or thriller pertaining to school violence and bullying.Audrey Hopkins.

Scheerger's sophomore novel focuses on topics that are, unfortunately, regularly in the headlines: high-school bomb threats and teen bullying. Straitlaced Gabi's senior year is off to an unexpectedly rocky start when a bomb threat puts her school under lockdown. Central High's response involves creating an anonymous crisis line, recruiting student volunteers, including Gabi, from all over the school's wide-ranging social structure, á la The Breakfast Club. But when Gabi starts receiving phone calls and creepy playing cards from the supposed bomber, called the Stranger, she is tasked with deciding if she can help or if she should defer to her cop dad. Scheerger establishes an authentic high-school environment in which, despite the fact that student bullying is understood, nothing concrete has been achieved to curb it, and plenty of bystanders look on helplessly. Though the book sometimes suffers from uneven writing, the spliced-in verse entries from the Stranger's Manifesto augment the tension and will keep even reluctant readers antsy to know how everything resolves. Gripping and timely.

Gr 9 Up-Gabriella, poster child for the perfect high school-age daughter and college bound student, stands barefoot on a public toilet for three hours while her suburban school is on lockdown for a bomb threat. No one knows who planted it, and everyone is a suspect. The school creates an anonymous crisis call center made up of students from all the different social stratas. Gabi becomes friends with people she might never have talked to before. As more teens begin to use the call center, she realizes that there are more miserable people in her school than she ever would have guessed. She also begins to suspect that the bomber is somehow connected to her. This well-written story focuses on the bystanders, who don't actively do anything wrong but neither do they help. Interspersed between the chapters is the "Stranger's Manifesto," pages written in verse by the person who planted the bomb. Added into the mix are Gabi's father, who is a detective; her sister, who has always hung out with the students on the fringes of high school society; and her mother, who is a nervous woman striving for control of everything. The pacing moves quickly, adding information and fleshing out characters along the way. Reluctant readers will stay with this one as they try to figure out who really planted the bomb. VERDICT An excellent choice for fans of Todd Strasser's Give a Boy a Gun (S. &; S., 2000) and Walter Dean Myers's Shooter (2004) and Monster (1999, both HarperCollins). Deanna McDaniel, Genoa Middle School, OH