Undercurrent

June 1, 2013
A potentially deadly trip over a waterfall turns out to be the least of teenage Cal's problems. Callum "Cal" Harris has survived the falls, a journey few others have. But the town of Crystal Falls in which Cal wakes to find himself is vastly different from the one he remembers. Cal is feared at school, he has a hot girlfriend, his best friend seems to hate him, and his beloved older brother is comatose. Struggling to adapt to this new reality, Cal feels hunted by an unknown presence that seems bent on thwarting his attempts to fit in. Blackwell's debut for teens attempts to explore the concept of the multiverse, how the past shapes the present and the perception of reality, but it does none of it well. There's no narrative tension, no character development and no compelling reason to turn the page. Callum is an incessant whiner, which is understandable given that he has jumped universes and woken in completely new circumstances, but it also makes it difficult to generate any sympathy for him or his plight. While the multiverse has potential as a narrative device, Blackwell simply falls into the tired evil-twin trope and leaves it half finished. The framework never jells, leaving the plot points suspended in the mist of the falls themselves. (Thriller. 14 & up)

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October 15, 2013
Grades 9-12 In his first novel for young adults, Blackwell, a pseudonym for Canadian children's author P. J. Bracegirdle, has fashioned a menacing, suspenseful thriller. Something is either very wrong with the town of Crystal Falls or very wrong with 16-year-old Callum Harris, a boy who has miraculously survived a trip over the waterfall the town is named for. He wakes up from his coma into a life that is very different than the one he remembers. Nerdy Cal finds himself a star athlete with more than one person who wants him dead in a grimier, bleaker version of the town he hates. He must now undo what has happened or accept his new reality. The ending is a little rushed and tidy, but Cal's reactions are everything one would expect from an average teen boy who finds himself in a world that looks similar to his but is infinitely more dangerous. Hand this to fans of Mary Pearson's The Adoration of Jenna Fox (2008), Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate's Eve and Adam (2012), and the novels of Neal Shusterman.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014
After falling through a waterfall, sixteen-year-old Callum Harris awakes from a coma to find himself in a life that is wholly uncanny. He slowly discovers that he's a totally different person: the athletic, aggressive, and seriously dangerous "Cal." The novel is an interesting twist on a known theme with some very exciting plot developments and a surprisingly creepy climax.

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