Deadly Design - Debra Dockter

Kyle and Connor are twins, but Kyle was born two years later.  Their parents are carriers of a fatal disease called spinal muscular atrophy, and their mom has had six miscarriages.  They went to a fertility doctor who designed them in the lab, and while Connor was inside his mom Kyle was frozen in the lab.  Kyle started asking questions right after his preschool graduation.  His dad explained things to him later that day.  Connor knew they were twins, but was told to keep it to himself until their parents felt it was the right time to tell Kyle.  Fast forward eleven years to Connor's last track meet and graduation a few weeks later.  Kyle is considering not going to either one.  Emma, Connor's girlfriend, is trying to convince him to go.  She tells him that Connor would want him there to support him.  After getting the guilt trip by his father Kyle goes to Connor's last track meet.  He runs into Cami, Emma's best friend, and she is surprised to see him there.  After the meet they all go to Luigi's to celebrate.  Cami and Kyle are off to the side while Kyle's parents praise Connor and Emma about how they will graduate in a few weeks and then after the summer head to Kansas State University.  Later that night Connor comes in Kyle's room and they play video games for half the night.  The next morning Kyle goes to wake Connor up and finds him dead in his bed.  The day after the funeral Kyle's parents tell him Emma wants him to read Connor's valedictorian speech at graduation.  He reluctantly agrees, but thinking he's not worthy to read his brothers words.  At graduation Kyle reads the speech that would make Connor proud of him.  Shortly after graduation the autopsy results come back saying Connor died from a heart attack.  Kyle goes and gets tested, and the tests come back clean.  As Kyle comes back from getting a job application he hears on the news that Alexis Warren collapsed and died, a day before her eighteenth birthday.  His parents knew her and her parents from the fertility clinic where Connor and Kyle were made.  Later that night Kyle does some research and he finds a blog for another kid Triagon Summers, who also died on his eighteenth birthday back in April.  The next day Kyle tells Cami what he found out, and asks her to take him to the fertility clinic where it all started.  They see his dad walk out of the clinic when they get there.  Kyle talks to Dr. Preston who says all he can do is direct Kyle to Dr. Hodges, the same thing he told Kyle's dad.  Dr. Hodges tells Kyle's dad, Kyle, and Cami that Dr. Mueller, the one who started Genesis, disappeared eighteen years ago.  Dr. Hodges explains to them how after fertilization happens the embryos with undesired traits are discarded, leaving only the best traits.  Dr. Hodges suggests they find who ever is left and do genetic screens on them.  Kyle puts out a Facebook post about a missing dog named James M. to try and make contact with one of the other Mueller babies.  He goes out for a run and encounters a bully named Teddy.  As they start to fight and Emma shows up and intervenes.  After the fight is broken up Emma tells him she needs a fresh start and she's leaving and moving to Minnesota.  Kyle says good-bye to Emma the next morning, and goes to eat at Don's Diner where Cami spots him and joins him.  They see a strange man they had noticed at Connor's track meet and the Sac and Save taking pictures.  They think nothing of it and make plans for later that night.  They set off fireworks as a distraction from everything, and Kyle contemplates about how things will never be the same again.  On the Fourth of July Kyle and his parents head down to Dallas to have tests run on him.  He meets a few other of the kids made by Dr. Mueller, and runs into James M. in the flesh.  Amber only has a few weeks till she's eighteen and James has a month. Kyle runs into Amber again and as they are talking Kyle sees a woman that was also at their hotel.  As Kyle tries to figure out who she is Amber collapses and dies. The doctors tell everyone they tried to save Amber but couldn't.  They have mapped out their DNA and found a sequence that causes catastrophic heart failure around the age of eighteen.  Their solution is to put a pacemaker into James to keep his heart going.  If it doesn't work then James will die in a few weeks.  While waiting for the taxi outside the hotel Kyle spots the same person who was at Connor's track meet taking pictures.  He chases after him and the guy gets hit by a car.  Before the guy dies he tells Kyle he was made differently, and he won't make it to seventeen.  Can Kyle figure out a way to live beyond seventeen? 

This was an intriguing book.  It shows how much we trust science to make everything perfect, including children.  Most parents will do anything for their children, but what happens when science takes over?  What is to stop the scientist from using the children as guinea pigs for their own personal goals?  Children are the future of humanity, and if we let science manipulate them then humanity may not have much of a future. 

T.B.
7/30/15

The Third Twin by CJ Omololu

Having an identical twin sounds like a lot of fun, especially when you think about all of the hi-jinx you can't away with. It's a lot of fun until people die and you look exactly like the killer.

Ava and Lexi are identical twins. Alicia is their made-up triplet they've created so that they can date guys when they're just looking for a little bit of fun. It's all fun and games until one guy gets a little too hands with Lexi while she's pretending to be Alicia. Although she wants to put an end to "Alicia," Ava is having too much fun. When guys that Alicia has dated, though, start turning up dead, it's not so much fun, especially when Lexi becomes the prime suspect. While she knows she didn't do it and she knows that Alicia isn't real, the only explanation is that Ava killed these people. Is it possible that her sister really is a killer, or is there something else going on?

The novel starts off a little bit slow in building the suspense, but once the situation develops and the stakes are raised, it become a roller coaster ride as Lexi tries to prove her innocence and protect the people she cares about. The book has its twists and surprises. Some teen mysteries can be a little over the top in plausibility, but I think this novel does a good job of toeing the line without going over. It is definitely worth the read if you're looking for a suspenseful murder mystery. 
MMK

Thin Space - Jody Casella

Three months ago Marshall and Austin, identical twin brothers, were in a really bad car accident.  Marshall survived while Austin did not.  Two months ago their elderly neighbor Mrs. Hansel passed away.  Whenever Marshall and Austin helped Mrs. Hansel she would talk about thin spaces.  Thin spaces are barriers between our world and the other side.  They are created where a person first came into the world and passed on to the next.  Marshall walks around barefoot everywhere trying to find a thin space so he can see his brother one last time.  He knows there is one in Mrs. Hansel's old house, but with a new family moving in it will be hard to get in.  He befriends Maddie, the new girl, so he can get into her house.  Maddie doesn't know what to think as she's heard how strange he is from her brother Sam and his friends.  Once he gains entry he walks over to where Mrs. Hansel died.  He is disappointed to find no thin space there.  When Maddie sees him trying to find the thin space he explains to her what he trying to find.  Maddie understands what he trying to find, but is still trying to wrap her head around everything.  The next day at school Logan, Marshall's girlfriend, tells him they need to talk.  They head to a coffee shop where they talk about everything that has gone on since the accident.  On the way home they see Maddie walking barefoot trying to find thin spaces where people died.  They take her home, and he's worried about her since he's been going around barefoot for the last few months trying to find thin spaces.  The next day Kate, Austin's girlfriend, tries to talk to Marshall and he blows her off.  Brad, a jock, then comes over and starts a fight with Marshall.  Marshall receives a four day suspension for fighting.  He does a lot of thinking over the first three days.  On the fourth day he patches things up with Maddie.  She has been researching the history of thin spaces, and wants to help Marshall see his brother one last time. 

This was a very good story about the loss of one person affects everyone around them.  I really liked the whole idea behind the thin spaces.  Most of us have those people who have passed away that we would like to see one last time.  

T.B. 12/26/13

Bruiser - Neal Shusterman

Brewster, or Bruiser, as the kids call him has a reputation, and everyone hears rumors about him. One day Bronte asks him out, and he agrees to go out with her. Tennyson, being the protective big brother, follows Bruiser home one day. What he finds is Bruiser protecting his brother from their uncle. After that incident Tennyson begins to notice other things. When someone cut themselves it would heal almost instantly. When Tennyson was hurting during a lacrosse game, and Bruiser was there, he took away the pain so Tennyson could continue playing. Bronte and Tennyson don't fully realize what is going on with Bruiser until he and his brother come and live with them for a little bit after their uncle dies. Their parents are fighting and are heading toward a divorce, and after Bruiser is living there they act like nothing is wrong. It is then they see how much Bruiser cares about them to take away their pain, which then becomes his pain.

A chilling and thought provoking novel. I love Neal Shusterman's books and Bruiser is his best book yet. It gets you thinking about how would you act if you met someone who could take away all of the pain in your life.

T.B. 9/21/10