Hellworld

December 15, 2016
A teenage girl searches for her long-lost mom and accidentally triggers an apocalypse. Abby Booth's mom has been missing for five years. While hosting a popular paranormal-investigative TV series, Mrs. Booth entered a mysterious cave in Arizona and never came back. Now 16, Abby reconnects with Charlie, the son of her mother's missing co-star, and the pair enters the cave for answers. They find their answers, but they also discover gigantic monsters that quickly escape to wreak havoc. As Abby and Charlie navigate the apocalyptic nightmare, Leveen wrestles with subjects ranging from religious historical theory to grief. Abby is a well-drawn character, action and introspection held in a nice balance. The book's secondary characters are less captivating. Abby's father grieves, and Charlie handsomely pouts. Charlie's girlfriend, Selby, sparks as a combative rationalist but is absent for long stretches due to injury. The book's structure is curious: alternating chapters between two timelines, one after the monsters are unleashed and one leading up to it. Unfortunately, once the monsters are out and about, it's hard to be interested in the small-scale drama unfolding prior to their arrival. Regardless, the unfolding of cataclysmic events is presented in captivating fashion, making this an entertaining, if not stellar, read. Characters are not cued racially, implying a white default. A solid thriller built on some well-meant emotional ideas. (Paranormal adventure. 12-16)

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February 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-This apocalyptic novel starts deep inside an Arizona cave that's so dark that "it causes dizziness and nausea." Charlie is calling for Abby, then his girlfriend, Selby. Abby answers, but Selby can only whimper in pain from the knife wound she inflicted on herself. Stunned and terrified, Charlie and Abby crawl toward each other, with only sound to guide them. From there, the narrative flips back to five years earlier, when the film crew from The Spectre Spectrum, a ghost-debunking reality TV show, disappeared. Abby's mom and Charlie's dad were among the missing. Seventeen-year-old Abby's life since then has revolved around playing the adult in the house as her father sinks further and further into depression. While beginning to get rid of reminders of her mother so that her dad might heal, Abby comes across a book, Myth of Gods, which had belonged to Charlie's dad. Someone had drawn two thick black lines, making an X over the title, and underneath, had written one word: "wrong." Abby calls Charlie, and together they plan to go back to the Arizona cave where their parents were lost. As the story alternates between the past and the present, readers will try to discover how this group of friends, introduced in the opening scenes, came to be in the cave-and what they find. The taut pacing is reminiscent of that in Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes, and teens will have to pay very close attention to every cleverly integrated detail to follow this mystery/adventure to its shocking revelation.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2017
Grades 8-11 Five years ago, the cast and crew of the paranormal reality show Spectre Spectrum disappeared inside a haunted cave. Abby, whose scientist mother was a cohost, can't accept the lack of answers (and bodies); raised as a skeptic and atheist, Abby wants a rational explanation. Plus, if she can find one, maybe she can pull her father out of his depression. Abby plans a caving expedition to search for the truth with Charlie, the other costar's son; Alex, the executive producer's son; and Shelby, Charlie's girlfriend. Leveen alternates between two time lines, before and after the monsters are freed; this structure adds mystery, but the transitions between teen drama, postapocalyptic survival, and B-movie silliness can be jarring. The characters hold interesting debates on science and religion, belief and skepticism, but only Abby's personal story has emotional depth, and the end of the world feels curiously detached. Ultimately, this is a story speculating that Noah's Ark was a fifth-dimensional prison for hellish creatures. Entertaining, suspenseful, and sometimes ridiculous.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)