March 31, 2011

A town with secrets


by Joyce McDonald

Strange things are happening in the town of Bellehaven - a plague of frogs, murders of crows, and sudden weather changes. Then Simon Gray crashes his car into the Liberty Tree. Meanwhile, Simon's friends are getting anxious. They'd bullied Simon into hacking the school's computers to manipulate their grades. Now they're afraid he'll spill the beans. But Simon's in a coma, where he meets Jessup Wildemere, who was hanged from the Liberty Tree two hundred years ago. 

McDonald has written a very eerie, mysterious and suspenseful story. She is especially good at capturing human behaviour and emotions. Each of Simon's friends deal with their guilt in different ways. Devin, the popular girl, gradually falls apart, Liz spends her days keeping an anxious vigil, Danny can't stop worrying, and Kyle might pull the plug. As for Simon, caught between parallel worlds, he's coming to terms with who he is, and trying to right a terrible injustice. 

This book will appeal to mystery lovers and those who like slightly scary stories.


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