Night Speed

May 2, 2016
Howard (the Rootless trilogy) addresses the dangers of addiction in this adrenaline-packed near-future adventure, in which a 17-year-old girl infiltrates a gang of bank robbers in order to take them down. "Breaknecks" use a drug called tetraâwhich grants them short bursts of super speed, agility, and strength, but proves fatal to those over 18âto rampage through the streets of New York City, while the experimental Tetra Response Unit deploys runners to stop them. Alana West is one of the best active runners, but as her cutoff birthday approaches, she dreads forced retirement. Suspended after a run goes bad, Alana is secretly picked to go undercover to track down a renegade supplier. As she unexpectedly befriends her targets amid the exhilarating rush of freedom and the siren call of tetra, she struggles to stick to her mission. Howard creates a fast-paced story punctuated by highly cinematic action scenes and quieter emotional moments; the exploration of addiction isn't subtle, but this is still an engaging page-turner. Ages 13âup. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary.

February 15, 2016
A world-weary teen faces the end of her superpowered-cop career. Adopting a fight-fire-with-fire strategy, New York City's experimental Tetra Response Unit employs teens as runners, offering them a steady supply of TTZ, or tetra, so they can be as fast and strong as the breaknecks--drug-fueled teen criminals--they are trying to catch. But the rush cannot last forever, for each runner must stop when puberty does, and time is running out for Alana West. The Feds are angling to shut down the team; she hasn't found the breakneck who landed her brother, Reuben, in a wheelchair; and she is almost 18. After a bust goes bad and Alana ends up a scapegoat, she accepts an undercover assignment to find the street dealer who supplies the breaknecks. Driven by revenge, rage, and a barely acknowledged addiction, Alana claims responsibility for her brother's accident but ignores her own TTZ-fueled trail of destruction. Aside from impulsive kissing episodes, Alana never feels particularly adolescent but is instead part wronged action hero--reminiscent of 1980s cop movies--and part junkie. Howard delivers gritty action sequences and an overabundance of vivid tetra-fueled visuals, but his dialogue is filled with cliche-riddled, slang-heavy, YOLO terms. Alana is biracial Latina, with a white father and Honduran mother, but there's little cultural detail supplied as grounding. Occasionally illogical and often trippy, a "high" adventure for young adrenaline junkies. (Adventure. 14-18)

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April 1, 2016

Gr 10 Up-In this futuristic version of New York City, Tetra is a popular drug that gives its users super speed. Many of those who take Tetra use it for nefarious purposes. Seventeen-year-old biracial Alana West is a member of the Tetra Response Unit, a group of teen law enforcement officers who set out to stop Tetra-related crimes. In order to catch the drug-enhanced criminals, Alana and her colleagues must take the drugs themselves in small doses. Once they turn 18, the drug starts to have destructive effects on the users, and the members of the Tetra Response Unit must step down from service. Alana ignores this edict and continues to use in order to seek out the people who put her brother in a wheelchair. Soon, the substance starts to affect her. Ultimately, she must choose between seeking vengeance and her own well-being. The story opens with an exciting chase sequence spanning multiple chapters. Those who enjoy thrillers will be pulled in at the beginning, but may be disappointed by the leisurely pace of the rest of the story. Yet when the action revs up, it goes full throttle. There are discussions of drug use as well as how users face the struggle of withdrawal. The hazy Tetra-induced visions are surreal and put readers in the mind of someone in the throes of addiction. VERDICT A chase-filled novel that deals with real life issues but is slightly plagued by erratic pacing.-Christopher Lassen, BookOps: The New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library

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