The titular guy is a teenage guy named, well, Guy. The girl is Rafi, who lives with her single-parent mother, who has never recovered from the drowning death of Rafi's little brother. The mother blames La Llorona, the weeping woman of Latin legend, for the death. The artist is Luke d a successful artist, too. And the ex is Penny, the erstwhile partner of the artist and mother of their baby son. These characters are fleshed out through flashbacks, and then connections are established as the narrative moves from one to the next. Finally they all become involved in one way or another with the theft of an invaluable Picasso painting called at else? e Weeping Woman. Then what had started almost as a lark turns serious, even potentially tragic, and readers will find themselves in sudden suspense. Williams does an excellent job of making that transition and subsequently ginning up page-turning excitement. A sophisticated entertainment, this book has intrinsic appeal to adult readers as well as its primary teen target.

The lives of four young people intersect in unexpected ways as the result of a spectacular art heist in Melbourne. In August 1986, a valuable Picasso painting is stolen off the walls of the National Gallery of Victoria and held for ransom. In alternating third-person chapters, readers learn that Luke, the talented young Artist with his star on the rise, is involved in a plot to steal the painting and return a forgery in its place. He also happens to be the Bastard Ex of Penny, a white 23-year-old trying to raise their baby, Joshie, on her own. Penny lives next door to Rafi, the Girl, a 17-year-old dealing with the eccentricities of her grieving mother, who never got over the drowning death of Rafi's younger brother in their home country of Bolivia. And who is the Guy (his name as well as his role)? Guy is a white high school senior who unwittingly throws the biggest party of the year, which sets into motion a series of events that gets him mixed up with the lives of the Girl, the Artist, and the Ex. This fully realized cast of characters is rounded out by a supporting cast of sympathetic friends and family, all flawed in their own ways. Williams' prose is wise, knowing, and sympathetic, her tag-team story moving along at a steady clip toward a heart-thumping climax and a satisfying denouement. A winning, offbeat romp for all ages. (Fiction. 15 & up)

The 1986 theft of Picasso-s Weeping Woman from the National Gallery in Melbourne, Australia, has unforeseen consequences for Williams-s (Beatle Meets Destiny) four narrators, whose stories overlap and culminate in a shocking event. Guy is an unmotivated high school senior throwing the party of the year. Seventeen-year-old Rafi is disciplined and driven, responsible for a mentally ill mother mourning the death of her three-year-old son. Luke, 27, is an antiestablishment rising art star with a young son he rarely sees. And Penny, Luke-s ex, is a 23-year-old college graduate navigating single motherhood. An intimate third-person narrative shifts among all four, providing perspective and insight into each of them and their relationships as the ripple effects of the theft grow. Rafi and Penny are perhaps the most compelling characters: Rafi must confront her own choices and difficult truths about her mother, while Penny fully comes into her own, taking charge of her and her son-s futures. Guy and Luke, by contrast, are largely passive and unchanged by events. Quiet but layered, Williams-s story lingers. Ages 13-up. (Mar.)