Narc

Gr 10 Up—Miami's Palm Hammock High School, known as "The Pharmacy," has a reputation for being a party school. Seventeen-year-old Aaron has stayed away from the parties, making few friends and occasionally smoking pot but remaining invisible to the drug crowd. His uneventful life changes abruptly with the death of his father. When he and his sister are pulled over and a policeman finds marijuana on her, Aaron is coerced into becoming an informant to lead police to the school's main supplier. Suddenly he is on uncomfortable ground, reinventing himself to fit in with popular classmates. As he struggles with his father's death and his mother's indifference, he finds himself in a position where he must now betray the friends he has made to stay out of jail. A Halloween rave will put all of the major players in the grasp of the police, and Aaron must decide whom he will protect. He is surrounded by teenagers whose parents don't or can't properly care for them, and many of the students are exposed as both fearless and intensely vulnerable. However, the character and plot development pick up only after a slow beginning, which may deter readers from continuing. If teens stick with the story and accept the implausible circumstances that lead to Aaron's position as a narc, they will enjoy the suspense as he battles paranoia and fulfills his mission without abandoning his convictions.—Caroline Hanson, Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School, Washington, DC