Crash

November 12, 2012
A key role in running the family restaurant is a lot for any kid to handle;
simultaneously protecting a gay brother and a mentally ill father is more than enough complication. High school sophomore Jules Demarco has it even worse: she’s also in love with “the enemy”—Sawyer Angotti, whose family runs a rival restaurant. She keeps her balance until billboards around town begin showing her a crashing truck and body bags. Only Jules sees these harbingers of doom, and soon they’re everywhere, in steadily increasing detail—detail that shows that one of those body bags belongs to Sawyer. McMann’s (Wake) new series has a well-
realized, amusing narrator and great realism in the details of restaurant management and family dysfunction. The questionable part is Jules’s visions; there’s no reason why this Romeo and Juliet romance needs precognition to work. So little rationale is given for them that it’s difficult to see how the device will plausibly support more books. However thin the pretext, though, Jules’s voice is quirky and fun—there’s plenty of reason to read on. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

January 1, 2013
Seeing is believing...unless you're the only one with the vision. McMann kicks off the first book in her new Visions series with a bang. On nearly every flat surface--billboards, televisions and road signs--Jules Demarco sees an out-of-control snowplow crash into a restaurant, causing an explosion and killing those inside. With a depressed grandfather who committed suicide and a moody, hoarder father, she's certain her Italian family will commit her if they find out about her visions. There's also their probable anger to contend with: The restaurant in Jules' vision is their rival pizza parlor, and one of the dead is Sawyer Angotti, her secret, lifelong crush and son of the adversarial restaurateur. As in the Wake trilogy, a strong female protagonist pairs with quick pacing, realistic dialogue and the right amount of romance to drive this suspenseful story. Using clues from her ever more frequent visions, social outcast Jules tries to figure out the exact time of the crash in an attempt to thwart it, risking her already shaky standing with Sawyer, her parents and her classmates. In the process of saving lives, she also discovers some dark family secrets. The teen's occasional lists of five items, such as "Five reasons why I, Jules Demarco, am shunned," keep the drama on the lighter side. McMann is on her way to becoming the next queen of supernatural thrillers. (Supernatural thriller. 14 & up)

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March 1, 2013

Gr 8 Up-Jules Demarco never knows when or where the vision of the explosion will appear. She's seen it on billboards, windows, the TV at home, and anywhere there is a flat surface. The vision is always the same: a truck running into a building and exploding, then nine body bags laid out. She gets a glimpse of one face-Sawyer Angotti-son of a rival pizzeria-owning family and Jules's secret crush. Not sure what to do, she thinks the first thing is to warn Sawyer that his life is in danger. Too bad her family has forbidden her to talk to him. As the vision appears more frequently, Jules is certain she's supposed to figure out the when and where of the explosion and stop it from happening. In the process, her family believes that she's starting down the same slippery slope her father and grandfather have been on. The story is told from Jules's point of view, which gives readers access to her thought processes and the vision itself. It alternates between seriousness and humor as she describes life at school and working in the family's pizzeria. As with her "Wake" series (S & S), McMann has created a strong female character determined to do what she must. An excellent first book in a new series.-Natalie Struecker, Rock Island Public Library, IL

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2013
Grades 7-10 Sixteen-year-old Jules Demarco sees a vision, first on billboards and then everywhere: a snowplow crashes into a building causing it to explode, and then there are nine body bags. It's like a movie trailer with no sound, no credits. And nobody sees it but me. Jules' missiononce she puts aside issues of her own sanityis to figure out when and where the accident is happening and try to prevent it. Mixed in is a long-standing family rivalry with the Agottis, owners of the other Italian restaurant in town (the DeMarcos live above their restaurant), and Jules' forbidden love for classmate Sawyer Agotti. The popular author of the Wake trilogy and Cryer's Cross (2011) will please her large fan base with this readable mystery, which has suspense, romance, and strong supporting characters in Jules' siblings, Trey and Rowan. While the plot is a little slow to start, it speeds up enough midway through to ensure readers will be flipping the pages. The unexpected ending will leave many in disbelief and anticipating the second book in the series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)