Blue Voyage

August 10, 2015
Zan and her mother flee Massachusetts for Turkey after Zan’s father, a gubernatorial candidate, is engulfed by a sex scandal, and her aunt loses her husband in a suspicious accident. To comfort Aunt Jackie and escape the scandal at home, Zan and her mother join her on a Mediterranean cruise and later help out by working at her boutique hotel. Things turn scary when Zan meets a girl named Sage, who plants antiquities on her; after Zan is caught with them by police, she is pulled into a vast smuggling conspiracy. Renn (Latitude Zero) spins a complicated narrative, crowded with details that can seem extraneous (giving Zan vitiligo, for example, or a shoplifting episode, in order to make the police’s accusations of thievery more believable). With all the twists, as well as the effort required to make these two girls seem like reasonable targets for an elaborate Turkish smuggling ring, the plot can be more jumbled than suspenseful. Travel seekers, however, will enjoy the tour of some of Turkey’s most famous sites. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kirby Kim, Janklow & Nesbit.

August 15, 2015
A teen exiled to Turkey for the summer gets wrapped up in a deadly game of smuggle-the-priceless-artifact. After her father, a Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate, is caught having an affair, 16-year-old Zan Glazer takes to drinking and shoplifting. To escape negative press, Zan and her mother join Zan's recently widowed aunt for a cruise on the gorgeous Turkish Riviera. Zan, the only person under 18 on a boat full of geezers, is happy to make friends with sophisticated American exchange student Sage Powell, but when Sage exits the tour without warning, Zan finds herself in possession of several valuable-and stolen-pieces of antiquity. Unfortunately, the items are part of a larger smuggling network, and the criminal element believes Zan knows Sage's whereabouts-and the location of a priceless urn. In a world where heroes might be villains (and the latter might be the former, with satisfying twistiness), Zan can only trust herself to find the missing urn and get to the bottom of a family mystery that may be connected to the larger picture. Almost imperceptibly, Zan, who is used to disguises, both for her father's sake and to hide the vitiligo slowing taking over her body, learns to be her authentic self in her fight to survive, a believable character arc that suits the plot nicely. A solid choice for readers hungry for an absorbing mystery. (Thriller. 12-18)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2015

Gr 7 Up-Zan begins to act out in negative ways after her dad becomes a rising political star. The adventurous, risk-taking teen is suddenly whisked off to Turkey for a mother-daughter trip, where they stay with Zan's aunt, a recent widow who believes her husband was murdered. What seemed like a boring family vacation turns into a thrilling mystery as Zan races to uncover the cause of her uncle's death and gets swept up into an antiquities smuggling ring. In order to save her family from the nefarious intentions of the smugglers, Zen must rescue an ancient (and cursed) treasure. Renn expertly builds tension, sweeping readers away to exotic locales. Witty and engaging, this book hearkens back to works by Agatha Christie. VERDICT A great addition to any library that has a teen fan base for thrilling mysteries.-Stephanie Charlefour, Wixom Public Library, MI

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.