Defender

February 1, 2016
Finding a long-dead body in the basement of her run-down Toronto apartment building sends Tyne searching for uncomfortable truths. Ironically nicknamed "Tiny," 6-foot-6-inch Tyne sees basketball as her best hope for a future outside the Zoo, the "slum tower" where her father has been a super for years. While recovering from an injury, Tyne visits the basement to help her father with repairs and discovers a girl's dead and mutilated body. When she tells her father about her find, his nervous cover story and subsequent disappearance--for just enough time to bury the body--raise immediate red flags. Shaken, Tyne confides in her "guy," Stick, and the two begin an investigation into ugly aspects of family and neighborhood history. The ambiance is heavy and suspenseful, and acts of violence large and small haunt the narrative, from a sleazy slumlord's dangerous neglect to a multigenerational legacy of abuse in Tyne's own family. The loss of trust between Tyne and her father is as omnipresent here as the questions about the dead girl's identity and fate, and the equal, caring, and mutually respectful partnership between Tyne, white, and Stick, multiracial Latino-Caribbean, stands as a welcome foil to the abusive relationships elsewhere. Tense, fast-moving, and atmospheric. (Mystery. 12-18)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-McNamee's bread and butter is dark and twisted stories like this one. Though she may not have grown up in the best neighborhood in Toronto, Tyne has a good head on her shoulders. She has great friends, she's a top player on her basketball team, she's not half bad at school, and she's been raised by a good family. Or at least that's what she thought. After doing a favor for her father, Tyne happens upon the remains of a dead body in the basement of the building that he runs. When she tells him of her discovery, he says that she must be seeing things. But Tyne knows what she saw-and now knows that even your family can have the darkest of secrets. Using information from clues from their neighborhood, Tyne and her best friend, Stick, rush to unravel the enigma of the dead girl. The setting and the protagonists are well realized. The novel's premise sets up an interesting plot but moves too slowly for readers to get swept up in the mystery. VERDICT For a more exciting read with a similar story, teens should turn to the author's Acceleration (Random, 2003).-Caitlin Wilson, Brooklyn Public Library

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.