Dead Girl Moon

September 24, 2012
The embattled lives of three teenagers entangle with the murder of a teenage prostitute in a depressed Montana town, in a mystery that draws in power and class struggles, drugs, sex, and economic and personal helplessness. Grace is a 16-year-old runaway, fleeing sexual abuse at home; upon arriving in Portage, she is set up with a waitressing job and a foster home, living in a trailer with a pothead, his alcoholic wife, their out-of-control son, and their orphaned 14-year-old niece, JJ. Also new to town is 16-year-old Mick, who’s grown up on the run with his father, a petty thief. After Grace, Mick, and JJ find a body in a river, they quickly attract attention from powerful and dangerous people in town. Writing with visceral, unsentimental realism, Price (Desert Angel) follows the trio’s attempts to
uncover the murder and figure out their lives. This isn’t about Scooby Doo–style hijinks, though: the teens’ miscommunications, naïveté, ulterior motives, and bad decisions have serious consequences, and Price leaves their futures uncertain at best. Ages 13–up. Agent: Tracey Adams, Adams Literary.

September 1, 2012
Three teens, variously abandoned and abused, become involved in a small-town murder that exposes their own exploitation in revealing ways. Grace has arrived in town after running away from horrific abuse by her older brothers and an uncaring mother. After the death of her parents, JJ is stuck with her dope-fiend uncle, practically catatonic aunt and uncontrollable cousin Jon. Mick's father is a thief, and they've been moving around for so many years that Mick is determined to make changes and stop the cycle in this new town of Portage, Mont. Similar in age, the three take an unusual outing on a hot summer day, including wild boy Jon just to stop his whining. The dead body they discover by the river sets off a series of events akin to a tumbling deck of cards in this town where lawbreaking and -bending are the rule. "Portage was a sewer, rotten with secrets and deals," Grace learns. The vulnerability of the teens contrasts with their inability to tell right from wrong, particularly evident when Grace does some hooking. Price presents readers with a less action-packed tale than his usual fare, but it's just as heartbreaking a picture of how our society fails adolescents as they come of age. A paltry few good guys try to balance cunning and pervasive evil in this disturbing mystery. (Mystery. 14-18)

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December 1, 2012

Gr 10 Up-Grace, JJ, and Mick have had difficult lives. JJ had to move in with her alcoholic aunt and dope-selling uncle when her mom died. Mick and his father, a thief, are hiding out. And Grace has been sexually abused by her brothers. They all wind up in the tiny town of Portage, Montana, where they hope to restart their shattered lives. But when the teens find the body of a young woman in the river, they become entangled in Portage's seedy underbelly. Out of fear, they flee. While on the run, Grace decides she'll make money by prostituting herself, and JJ and Mick try their hardest to stop her. They eventually drag her back to Portage in the hope that progress has been made in the girl's murder investigation. Instead Mick becomes the prime suspect, Grace is wanted for questioning, and JJ, as usual, goes unnoticed. In a series of ridiculous scenarios, Grace is kidnapped by the people covering up the girl's murder and her friends save her by cooperating with the police. The unimaginative plot ties up too neatly and jumps all over the place. The town of Portage, where runaways and drifters are bought and sold like cattle and dragged into corruption, is far-fetched and unbelievable. Even the solution to the mystery surrounding the dead girl's murderer is anticlimactic.-Lauren Newman, Northern Burlington County Regional Middle School, East Columbus, NJ

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2012
Grades 8-12 Grace, Mick, and JJ are all disenfranchised teens who wind up together in a seedy trailer park in Portage, Montana. Grace, a runaway, and JJ, an orphan, live with JJ's alcoholic aunt, druggie uncle, and wild, violent nephew, while Mick is hiding out with his thieving dad. All want a new start and solid identity in this corrupt, opportunistic town, yet they become enmeshed in its surreptitious violence, gambling, and prostitution when they discover a woman's body in a river outside of town. The novel reads like a made-for-TV movie. All three teens are likable, wily, and yet surprisingly naive. Most of the adults are deeply flawed, the villains larger-than-life, and the compassionate and honest few and far between. Each scene brings a new twist that is somewhat predictable but no less heart-stopping. In spite of its abrupt, rather pat ending, this is an unusual and riveting page-turner that will enthrall murder mystery buffs, romantics, jocks, and realistic fiction fans alike.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)