Defender

Gr 9 Up—McNamee's bread and butter is dark and twisted stories like this one. Though she may not have grown up in the best neighborhood in Toronto, Tyne has a good head on her shoulders. She has great friends, she's a top player on her basketball team, she's not half bad at school, and she's been raised by a good family. Or at least that's what she thought. After doing a favor for her father, Tyne happens upon the remains of a dead body in the basement of the building that he runs. When she tells him of her discovery, he says that she must be seeing things. But Tyne knows what she saw—and now knows that even your family can have the darkest of secrets. Using information from clues from their neighborhood, Tyne and her best friend, Stick, rush to unravel the enigma of the dead girl. The setting and the protagonists are well realized. The novel's premise sets up an interesting plot but moves too slowly for readers to get swept up in the mystery.