A bomb shatters the Williams family's adventurous, upbeat life in London as Americans abroad when 11-year-old Billy is handed an explosive package in the subway on his way to school one day. Teenage Laura devotes herself to finding her brother's killer, or at least to figuring out the reason behind the terrorist incident, for which no group comes forward to claim responsibility. Tension builds expertly in Cooney's latest thriller, which is sure to hook fans early on with its breezy dialogue, believable characters, and--since it's set in an international school in London--interesting global perspective. Family members vent their anger and grief over Billy's death, and a particularly fine psychological portrait of Laura emerges as she begins to break down in the process of seeking justice for her brother. In the end, readers may not be quite satisfied with the revelations about classmate Jehran and her mysterious household as they relate to the Williams tragedy, but the book does a fine job of conveying the ambiguity and void facing a family looking for answers from the dark underground of terrorism. (Reviewed July 1997)

Fans know what to expect from Cooney (The Voice on the Radio, 1996, etc.): bullet-train pacing and entertaining prose. This accessible offering opens as Billy Williams, 11, accepts a package from a passerby and is blown up in a London tube station. The action is full steam ahead as the Williams family mourns and attempts to go on, except for Laura, 16, who embarks on an absorbing and obsessive journey to find her brother's killer. The novel isn't perfect: Laura's transformation from a self-involved ``ugly'' American abroad to vengeful paranoiac is fairly convincing, although readers may have trouble getting past their initial dislike of her and her self-satisfied oblivion. While most of the characters are as real as their grief—making human choices, and suffering the consequences—others simply fade out of the story, and the culprit is based more on a stereotype than on logic. If the novel requires a few big leaps of faith, readers will be glad they stayed with it, and will be caught up in exciting, compulsive reading. (Fiction. 12+)"

Gr 5-10--A provocative look at an American family living abroad, destroyed by a not-so-random act of violence. Billy, 11, a brash but lovable all-American boy, accepts a package from a stranger in a London subway station and becomes the victim of a bomb. His grieving 16-year-old sister is obsessed with capturing the unknown terrorist. An average student at the London International Academy, she alienates her circle of friends as she begins to suspect each of them. Laura, the typical Cooney heroine, is rather self-centered, plodding through life until tested by trauma. She and her family play the roles of well-meaning, but rather ignorant Americans, oblivious of the world in which they live. Plausibility takes a back seat to plot toward the end as Laura neatly places herself in the hands of the cold-hearted villain. Not since Barbara Parks's Mick Harte Was Here (Knopf, 1995) has a deceased sibling been so carefully memorialized. Indeed, readers come to know the short-lived Billy better than many of the other characters, including the vaguely draw villain, whose motivation is never really clear. Cynicism rather than honor is the victor at the tale's conclusion; it ends not with a bang, but a whimper. While this book is not as gut-wrenchingly terrifying as Robert Cormier's After the First Death (Pantheon, 1979), Cooney's fans will find it more accessible and even harder to put down.--Marilyn Payne Phillips, University City Public Library, MO