Siren

May 31, 2010
After fearless and beautiful 18-year-old Justine Sands dies after jumping off an ocean cliff at her family's Maine summer home, her grieving younger sister, Vanessa, is certain it was neither suicide nor an accident. Teenage Caleb, who was with Justine that night, is missing, so Vanessa joins forces with his older brother, Simon, to find him as well as answers to the mystery. At every turn, however, a vicious girl named Zara obstructs their path. Why does Vanessa get searing headaches when Zara is near? And what do strange weather patterns have to do with the string of deaths that follow Justine's? Part romance, part mystery, Rayburn's (the Maggie Bean series) tale is a solid supernatural thriller, but it doesn't coalesce into anything more than the sum of its parts. Not all of the plot threads are well resolved— for example, it's never clear why Vanessa is sometimes able to hear her dead sister speaking to her. Vanessa's dry-eyed, obsessive grief keeps sympathy at a distance, and her feelings for Simon don't have much heft. Ages 14–up.

February 1, 2011

Gr 8 Up-Vanessa and Justine Sands have spent their summers in Maine hanging out with the neighboring Carmichael brothers for almost as long as they can remember. But this year, after a terrible fight with their parents about her future plans, Justine jumps off a cliff to her death. Vanessa doesn't believe that her sister killed herself so she starts digging for answers. It turns out that Justine's death isn't the only one that summer. Dead men are washing ashore all along the coast, and the weather is going crazy. As she searches for clues, Vanessa begins to suspect that there might be a connection between the many deaths. This novel starts out well, but quickly drags. Rayburn's writing has an almost cinematic quality, but that causes problems when things aren't explained clearly and readers are left to infer too much in the action. While the premise of sirens in modern-day North America is fascinating, the idea is not fully explored. Far too much of the book is spent with Vanessa chasing after her sister's boyfriend for answers. Also, the science behind the climactic scene makes absolutely no sense and isn't plausible.-Necia Blundy, Marlborough Public Library, MA

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