Teen Frankenstein

Gr 8 Up—In this trilogy opener, Baker takes the essence of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; throws in heaps of high school drama; mystery, and murder; and then sets it in the small town of Hollow Pines, TX. The protagonist, Victoria "Tor" Frankenstein, could win a Nobel Prize, if only she could tell people how she brought a cute guy back from the dead. Tor and her best friend, Owen, are outcasts among the football-crazed students, until they show up at high school with her creation, Adam, who wins the hearts of the cheerleaders and the respect of his fellow football teammates—all in the name of scientific research. Then the bodies start to pile up. In a detached, scientific tone, Baker provides gruesome details of the multiple murders and Tor's continuous reanimation process to keep Adam alive. The pacing lags at times under the elaborate play-by-play of events, but the mystery surrounding Adam, and who he really is, propels the story forward. Teens might guess the identity of the killer early on, but they'll keep reading to learn the shocking reason behind the murders. Baker manages to weave all the horrifying events into a grotesque but fitting conclusion.