Deadstream

Gr 9 Up–Gr 9 Up–Surviving the car crash that killed her best friend has since kept 17-year-old Teresa agoraphobically trapped in her room. Technology gives her opportunities to connect beyond her four walls, particularly via livestreaming, where she’s built a growing community. Then, a popular streamer goes catatonic and is seemingly murdered on camera. Attacks escalate, with Teresa becoming a prime target. Romasco-Moore’s latest integrates narrative storytelling with all manner of social platforms and contemporary communication modes—livestreaming, posting, commenting, group chats, texting, online news, and newsletters—which appear easily distinguishable on the page, but perhaps not so much with a single voice. Even so, Hutchinson-Shaw gamely engages, technically enhanced with occasional help from sound designers who tune her narration to reflect various screen exchanges. She effortlessly tracks Teresa from apprehension to desperation and distinguishes various livestreamers, including initially dynamic Brick and British Indian KingCoal.