PLAYING IN TRAFFIC

An intelligent, mature, but repressed high-school senior puts himself into increasing danger through his romance with a disturbed girl in this realistic and hard-hitting story. Matt deliberately fades into the background socially, looking forward only to college when Skye, a girl in the Goth culture complete with sex, drugs, and rock and roll, chooses him for herself. With family problems of his own, enticed by the lure of excitement and especially of sex, Matt finds Skye impossible to resist, although he eventually realizes that she’s only using him in her attempt to commit a terrible crime. Written in short segments that will appeal to reluctant readers, this in-depth exploration of adolescent psychology highlights the real danger often involved in alternative lifestyles. Giles simply allows her story to unfold without trying to shock and, in doing so, makes her final shock all the more effective. (Fiction. YA)