McPhee, whose other realistic works for teens include Runner (Orca, 2000/VOYA June 2001) and Out of Time (James Lorimer, 2003/VOYA October 2004), explores the demented reality of a stalker whose obsession wreaks havoc in his victim's life. Inspired by actual events, the book is a fictionalized account of the criminal case involving a Canadian woman who was stalked by a high school classmate for nearly two decades. Sixteen-year-old Emily Taylor meets Michael LaVide at Calgary's Cyber Taste CafÚ, where she works as a barista, unaware that Michael has been covertly following and photographing her for weeks. He soon begins sending Emily seemingly innocuous e-mail and gifts. When she starts dating Daniel, however, Michael's behavior becomes dangerous. Arrested for vandalizing Emily's home, Michael escapes custody and sets fire to the cafÚ to injure Daniel. Frightened and exhausted, Emily travels to the Mediterranean to distance herself from the nightmarish ordeal, but readers discover that Michael is still tracking her from the hospital to which he has been remanded. The book's first and final chapters-written in Michael's disquieting voice-are chilling, but those between are narrated in third person, subtly detaching readers from Emily's fear, anger, and despair. True crime readers and those with a special interest in the phenomenon of stalking will enjoy this realistic story. The novel lacks the suspense to engage general and reluctant readers without pushing. Nonetheless this book would prove valuable in English and journalism classes to compare and contrast fictionalized narratives with the nonfiction accounts that inspired them.-Sherry Korthals.