Crash

November 12, 2012
A key role in running the family restaurant is a lot for any kid to handle;
simultaneously protecting a gay brother and a mentally ill father is more than enough complication. High school sophomore Jules Demarco has it even worse: she’s also in love with “the enemy”—Sawyer Angotti, whose family runs a rival restaurant. She keeps her balance until billboards around town begin showing her a crashing truck and body bags. Only Jules sees these harbingers of doom, and soon they’re everywhere, in steadily increasing detail—detail that shows that one of those body bags belongs to Sawyer. McMann’s (Wake) new series has a well-
realized, amusing narrator and great realism in the details of restaurant management and family dysfunction. The questionable part is Jules’s visions; there’s no reason why this Romeo and Juliet romance needs precognition to work. So little rationale is given for them that it’s difficult to see how the device will plausibly support more books. However thin the pretext, though, Jules’s voice is quirky and fun—there’s plenty of reason to read on. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

June 1, 2013

Gr 8 Up-Sixteen-year-old Jules Demarco may be crazy. Everywhere she looks she sees the same horrific vision of a fiery crash that results in the deaths of nine people. Mental illness runs in her family, so it's possible that she could be hallucinating. When the images become more urgent, Jules begins studying the clues within them and realizes that she isn't insane-she's seeing the future. It's up to her to solve the mystery and save the lives of eight strangers as well as the boy she loves before it's too late. Allyson Ryan voices the tormented Jules with conviction, sounding very much like an overwrought teen. Jules's frustration is audible in Ryan's anxious, teeth-clenched narration, whether she's angrily laying her feelings on the line to her love interest, Sawyer, or dealing with former friends who think she's crazy. Listeners can practically see the teen's exasperated eye-rolls when interacting with her less-than-tolerant parents, and her sometimes snarky, always tender relationship with her siblings is expressed through Ryan's nuanced performance. While the story is fast-paced, the audio production disrupts the narrative's flow with lengthy breaks between chapters and some tracks. The silence is noticeable and undermines the momentum that McMann has created in her story (Simon Pulse, 2013) and Ryan conveys. In spite of this, listeners will enjoy this tale about rival families and forbidden love.-Audrey Sumser, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Mayfield, OH

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