FICTION

Deadly Pink

by Vivian VANDE VELDE
276p. Houghton Harcourt. July 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-547-73850-5; ebook $16.99. ISBN 978-0-547-82236-5.
COPY ISBN
Gr 6 Up—When Grace Pizzelli's older sister does not return to reality from a virtual video game, Grace is called upon by Rasmussem, the video-game company where Emily is interning, to enter the game and rescue her. She discovers that her sister is not trapped in the game, but rather she escaped into it after a serious falling-out with her friends in the real world. If she cannot convince Emily to come home soon, she may be lost forever. The plot is full of twists and turns-just as it seems as if Grace has convinced Emily to exit the game, another obstacle presents itself. The action mounts with the conclusion, which serves as a realistic cautionary tale against computer hacking. Vande Velde does a great job of developing Grace and Emily as authentic characters. Throughout the novel, the relationship between Emily, the sister who has everything, and Grace, the "levelheaded" one, evolves into "more one of longtime friends who have been through a lot" as they must depend on one another to survive. Grace's humor, wit, and sarcasm will be appreciated by teens. Readers who enjoy Deadly Pink should check out Vande Velde's other Rasmussem novels, User Unfriendly (1991) and Heir Apparent (2002, both Harcourt).—Nicole Knott, Watertown High School, CT
When favored daughter Emily traps herself inside a virtual reality game set in a fairy-tale world, her younger sister Grace, the only person conversant in both the game and Emily, is called upon to rescue her. The cloyingly twee game landscape provides some humor, but the simplistic psychologizing around Emily's problems saps the plot of both energy and emotional depth.
A fast-paced and suspenseful read. Vivian Vande Velde constantly ratchets up the tension. For instance, when Grace learns her time limit for saving her sister, she frets: “Emily didn’t have seventy-two hours. They didn’t need to tell us that. We didn’t know how long Emily had before the equipment—meant to be used for under an hour—would overheat her brain.” The game’s scenarios and the tasks the girls must complete are often fanciful (such as stealing a dragon’s gold), but the consequences—up to and including death—are grave. The well-balanced combinations of fantasy and reality, goofiness and seriousness are lively and thought provoking. Grace and Emily have a believable relationship, complete with jealousy, secrets, and petty grievances. It’s touching when the sisters are able to put aside their antagonism in order to help each other. The book takes escapism to its logical extreme: Emily refuses to leave the game she has created to avoid academic and peer pressure. Vande Velde clearly shows how stress, and conversely, dodging responsibility, can be equally problematic.

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