Ghost Time

Gr 10 Up—Eldridge's debut is a mind-bending blend of innovative science fiction and a stream-of-conscious writing style. Fifteen-year-old Thea's world is rocked when her hacker boyfriend, Cam, disappears, seemingly into thin air. He leaves behind few clues, and what investigators do find is as baffling as his disappearance itself. Then,inexplicable events begin happening in Thea's small, otherwise-quiet community. Images that look like her drawings show up on Flickr, sex tapes of the teens appear online (but they never made the videos), and strange graffiti is showing up all over town. Once Thea discovers a glowing tattoo over a scar on her shoulder, she grows even more confused. As the story draws to a close, readers will find that the mysteries only get more mysterious, and the answers only raise more questions. The frequent sexual episodes and cursing make this novel best suited to older teens. The story is unique, but the chronology changes frequently and the dialogue is not set apart by quotation marks, which will make this novel difficult for many readers.—Anna Berger, formerly Literature Consultant, Piper City, IL