Sisters Phoenix and Sasha face domestic troubles in this dark drama. First, their father moves out without warning, leaving only cryptic postcards that give clues to his whereabouts. Then teenaged Phoenix's charismatic teacher woos her preoccupied mother; he moves in and begins abusing Phoenix. This slim novel, translated from the French, is light on characterization but heavy on eerily intense mood.

Phoenix Cotton, a 16-year-old white girl, moves by herself through her unnamed high school life in an unnamed town, crushing on the white swimming hero Marlon Baldini. She lives with her pharmaceutical sales rep mother, Erika, and her beloved 8-year-old, science-loving (and horror-film aficionado) sister, Sasha, in an old lakeside cabin while coping with their father's abandonment. Into this vulnerable family comes her English teacher, Mr. Jessup Smith, described as "young," "too charming," and a "reincarnation of a 1950s movie star," who starts off by offering the Cotton sisters a ride home but will immediately set off readers' alarms when, in his agitation at Sasha's putting her muddy boots on his clean car seats, he turns around and yanks them off. As he insinuates himself into Sasha's and Erika's hearts, his abusiveness surfaces—mostly toward Phoenix. But Smith and Baldini are not the only men moving in and out of the Cotton sisters' lives: Marlon's stepfather also charms Phoenix and Sasha while also serving as a connection to their father. But that's the book's problem: for a work whose original French title translates into All the Heroes Are Called Phoenix, the only heroes—the people who rise to act, both positively and negatively—are the men; Sasha's nerdy-girl irrepressibility is limited because she's 8. And the one who gets the worst of this treatment, in so many ways, is Phoenix herself. A slow, dispiriting case study of abuse. (Thriller. 14-18)

As Rugani-s first novel begins, 16-year-old Phoenix and her precocious younger sister, Sasha, get an unexpected ride home from Mr. Smith, Phoenix-s charming, cultured teacher. -Hollywood doesn-t know it, but tucked away here, in the middle of nowhere, is the reincarnation of a 1950s movie star,- thinks Phoenix. They arrive to their remote cabin to find their mother, Erika, burning their father-s possessions; he ran out on the family eight months earlier, and Erika has since become unpredictable and withdrawn. After witnessing this scene, Mr. Smith insists on driving the girls home from school each day, ingratiates himself with their mother, and is soon transforming their house and moving in himself. Phoenix-s intimate narrative reveals her wariness of Mr. Smith and his behavior, which gradually moves from strict to moody to terrifying. Readers will see signs of his abusive tendencies before the other characters do, when it-s almost too late. While the ending is somewhat rushed, Rugani-s uncomfortable novel oozes tension as it focuses on a few intense relationships and underscores the importance of reaching out for help. Ages 14-up. (Oct.)

Gr 9 Up-This book will hook readers initially and then take its time to reel them in. Tension mounts when Phoenix's charismatic English teacher, Mr. Smith, rescues her and her younger sister Sasha from a bike mishap. Smith takes the girls home and finds their mother, face lit by the bonfire in which she burns her ex's belongings, and senses weakness. A predator, he begins dating their mother and moves in shortly thereafter. The opposite of Phoenix's Zen-like and understandingyet completely absentfather, Smith has a sinister side, and it slowly appears, perhaps a little too slowly. The abuse starts halfway through the novel and lacks salacious details, a rarity in a post- A Child Called 'It' world. Phoenix's mother displays avoidance/denial issues, and the girls fend for themselves when she leaves town, which is often and for long stretches at a time. The sisters' close relationship proves their only security. An innocent romance and the hasty return of the long-lost father round out the story line. Teens who shy away from gritty details and appreciate heady literary references, menacing authority figures, and coming-of-age tales may find what they are looking for in this title. VERDICT A quietly powerful story for large YA collections. Laura Falli, McNeil High School, Austin, TX

While the concept of this novel will be intriguing to teen readerstwo sisters whose lives begin to drown in anguishing despair when a popular teacher from their school starts dating their mother and turns into an abusive monsterwhat could have been an edgy, suspenseful thriller, reads more like a dispassionate social worker's case report.ááThe author (or is it the translator?) narrates the events as though she is conscientiously filling out a home visit questionnaire rather than developing a story with throbbing immediacy, jittery tension, and palpable danger, elements that make reading the spine-tingler genre so chillingly fun and satisfying.á Furthermore, the author clearly adores metaphors (she speckles them throughout almost every page); however, so many of them are banal and stale. "à[she's] been avoiding me like I'm a leperà" (145).á Finally, the ending seemed hastily appended, more as an afterthought, in order to provide clean and harmonious closure, rather than an authentically meaningfuláresolution.áBecause this novel has been translated into English from French, it is quite possible that the original author's skill and intentions were lost in the translation.á The review comments, therefore, may be due to the translator's adaptation rather than the author's initial work. If hunting for fictional depictions ofáchild abuse perpetrated by men,ámore advantageous purchases might be titles such as Klass's You Don't Know Me (Thorndike, 2001/VOYA June 2001), Shaw's The Boy from the Basement (Penguin, 2004/VOYA December 2004), or Weiss's Such a Pretty Girl (MTV Books, 2007/VOYA December 2006.Suzanne Osman.