Prism

July 27, 2009
This first collaboration between bestselling mystery author Faye Kellerman and her teenage daughter Aliza has an enticing premise but falls short. After a van accident in the desert during a school trip, high schooler Kaida Hutchenson and two classmates seek shelter in a cave and have the mysterious sensation of falling as they seek an exit. Kaida then wakes up in her own bedroom, thinking the past events are a dream. Everything seems normal (she awakens to Metallica on the radio) until she witnesses a white-robed “cleanup crew” take away an injured man who's been hit by a car. With some investigation and help from a cute boy, Kaida discovers that she is in an alternate dimension where medicine and health care are illegal, and where those who go against the natural order of the world are dealt with in a Big Brother–like manner. Though the slow-building mystery is handled deftly, the execution of the mirror world feels simplistic, with the authors basically sidestepping the broader ramifications that a lack of medicine would have had on human society over time. Ages 12–up.

February 1, 2010
Gr 7 Up-In this paranormal thriller (HarperCollins, 2009) by Faye and Aliza Kellerman, Kaida Hutchenson, 15, is not excited to be on a school trip to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico with swimmer Zeke Anderson and smoker Joy Tallon. When their van crashes in the desert and catches fire, the teens barely have time to escape before it explodes. They take refuge in a cave to stay out of the rain, and are mysteriously transported to a parallel world. They wake up in their own beds in California like it was all a dream, except one thing is differentKaida and Zeke watch a man get hit by a car and instead of an ambulance a cleanup crew takes away the body. The teens figure out that they now live in a world where there is no such thing as health care or medicine. Darwin's natural selection has been taken to extreme. The fittest survive and those who try to fight the "natural order" are thrown in jail. Jenna Lamia brings to life Kaida, the scared yet sassy purple-haired teen. Much of the story's suspense comes from her performance. Thoughtful listeners will find many gaps in the prism-like other world and the implications of no medicine."Samantha Larsen Hastings, West Jordan Library, UT"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2009
Grades 9-12 High schoolers Kaida, Joy, and Zeke sign up for their class trip to New Mexico with nothing in commonthey are merely assigned to the same bus. But after a crash in the desert, the three takerefuge in a cave and are soon lostunderground . . . and then suddenly they wake up. Theyre back in school again, the class trip hasnt yet happened, andthe crashseems like a bad dream.This propulsive premise takes a weird turn when Kaida realizes that something is different: this version of reality doesnt acknowledge the concept of being sick. There are no hospitals, no doctors, and no medicine (unless you count the dealers plying black-market pills on the street). The Kellermans prose isnt going to win any style points, but they milk their bizarre setup for all its worth, imagining an alternate present where the sick are treated as junkies anda mere cough makes you a pariah.Periodic lapses in logicwont prevent this fast, paranoid thriller from flying off shelves.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2010
After a bizarre car accident, three teens are thrown into an alternate universe where medicine is outlawed and healthcare is nonexistent. Kaida, Zeke, and Joy form a necessary alliance in order to find their way back to their familiar world. Their struggle is suspenseful until the book's final pages. The socio-political commentary, while relevant, can be intrusive to the narrative.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

August 1, 2009
Gr 6-10-Kaida Hutchenson, a purple-haired 15-year-old student at Buchanan High School in St. Denis (right outside "Hollyweird"), never expected the school field trip to Carlsbad to go so wrong. She thought that the worst part of it would be riding in a van without her best friend, Maria, and dealing with arrogant Zeke Anderson and laid-back Joy Tallon. But after the van crashes in the desert, catches on fire, and it begins to rain, the three enter a cave that strangely transports them to a parallel dimension in which everything, including their families, is the sameexcept that being ill is kept a secret and finding a cure is illegal. Kaida's narration of the events will keep readers' interest as they feel her frustration and confusion as to why she can't find an aspirin for Joy's throbbing arm or use any words associated with health care or medicine because the wrong people might hear. The mysteries unfold and dangers are explained through Kaida's new love interest, Ozzy, the rebel with a cause in a world without health care. This is an ideal concept for a story that is smoothly paced through new romances, new friendships, and suspicious family members while dealing with the underworld trafficking of medicine that can become deadly. Unfortunately, the ending is rushed, some seemingly important characters are left undeveloped, and there's no explanation of how and why the split in the parallel worlds came about. This powerful topic had great potential but it falters in its delivery."Nancy D. Tolson, Mitchell College, London, CT"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.