The Vampire Stalker

Gr 8 Up—Amy, 17, is a huge fan of the popular "Otherworld" novels. She adores Alex, the handsome vampire-slayer protagonist. Without knowing how, Alex chases Vigo, an evil vampire, through a temporary portal and ends up in Amy's real world of modern-day Chicago. The development of the story relies heavily on convenience and the unbelievable, predictable traits of a one-dimensional cast. Amy's clueless mom allows Alex, a moody boy she's never met, to stay at their apartment for a few days, thus providing a snug environment for the teens to bond. Also, Amy is good friends with the super-hip school librarian, who used to study a little-known branch of science called "literary physics." She still has connections at the university, where she can borrow special equipment for locating portals between dimensions, thus providing Alex a way to get back to Otherworld. Chrissy, Amy's unrelentingly bratty, rebellious eighth-grade sister, agrees to meet in person a guy she met on Facebook. He turns out to be Vigo (he caught on to 21st-century technology quickly). He kidnaps Chrissy, thus sparking a final showdown between him and Alex. When Vigo makes a ransom call to Amy, she recognizes a "ping" sound in the background as one that is played at the end of the announcements at a particular store at a particular mall; thus she and Alex are able to track Vigo there. The police ready themselves for the vampire onslaught by "having wooden stakes made" as if wooden stakes are hard to come by and must be special-ordered. Suspension of disbelief is unsustainable.—Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Library, NC