Gr 10 Up-Fifteen-year-old Sam, his mother, and his younger sister have recently moved back to England's Cornwall coast, where Sam's father lost his life at sea years before. Sam's paternal grandmother still lives there, battling cancer. His mother is attempting to reestablish a family connection, although the relationship between the two women is strained. Sam's mother is also motivated by her desire to raise her children in a wholesome environment, away from the temptations of London. Sam finds his own trouble, however, as he falls in with the teasing, enigmatic Jade and her band of hard-partying surfer friends. Largely to impress Jade, Sam takes up surfing, earning the nickname Kook, slang for a newcomer to the sport. He quickly falls in love with surfing, and the rapturous descriptions of the thrill of riding a great wave are the highlight of the book. As he becomes more involved in the surfing scene, Sam is inevitably drawn into the accompanying drug culture. Armed with his father's charts of the local waters, which he discovered in his grandmother's house, Sam leads the band to a dangerous area called the Devil's Horns, where they surf mammoth waves in treacherous conditions. None of the characters in the novel are likableand the author perhaps overreaches in his attempt to lend significance to Sam's teen angst. VERDICT While not a first purchase, this book may have appeal to those interested in exploring the nature of this exciting sport. Richard Luzer, formerly at Fair Haven Union High School, VT

A romance set against the backdrop of the Cornish Sea where the characters surf, and Sam, the main character is a "kook" (surf slang for a wannabe), Kook has all of the best elements of a coming-of-age story. Sam has moved with his mother and half-sister to coastal England to be closer to his dying grandmother and reconnect to his dead father's pasta father whose life was taken by the sea. Sam quickly meets Jade, a disjointed surfer girl with an appetite for huge waves that her and her gang knows are lethal. Yet, with adolescent blood pulsing, even Sam can appreciate the pull, although Sam seems to also understand the danger. Readers will be engaged with the flawed characters' poor decisions and feel their intensity along with them, but all signs point to tragic consequences.American teens might disengage with the rampant English vocabulary and slang, but the common language of facing danger headlong is appealing. Tight sentences pace the story well and Vick parses the right amount of background so questions are answered while events are ominously forewarned. Pathways to this book are either through the adventures of surfing and teen life, or through the romance between Sam and Jade, with the adventure more exciting than the romance of two damaged teens looking to awaken their purpose.Alicia Abdul.