BOOK PICKS.

Byline: The Register-Guard

"Acceleration"

By Graham McNamee

Wendy Lamb Books, 2003

Ages 12 to 17

Seventeen-year-old Duncan is spending his summer beneath the city of Toronto working in the lost and found office of the subway system. It is as far as he can be from the scene of a tragic accident that resulted in the drowning death of a young woman just inches away from his finger tips. The long hours of his job mean he doesn't need to explain to his wild and crazy buddies, Wayne and Vinnie, why he can't join them on their escapades at the pool.

One boring afternoon, among the lost glasses and abandoned umbrellas, he discovers a distinctive journal and decides to read it. He is shocked at the gruesome details of arson and animal mistreatment. Then he realizes that the journal was lost while its author was stalking a woman on the train, looking for his next victim. Duncan sees an opportunity to save a life and perhaps erase the troubling memory of the earlier life that was lost. The police appear disinterested in the journal so Duncan, with the help of his two best friends, devises a plan to stop the man they name "Roach" before he can strike.

Just as the title suggests, the book starts slowly and simply enough, but quickly accelerates into a gripping mystery you cannot put down. There is some comic relief in the relationship and conversation among the three boys, but once the real search begins, it's an action-filled drive to the end.

"Acceleration" has received the 2004 Edgar award for best mystery for a young adult and appears on this year's Young Reader's Choice Award list.

- Linda Ague, librarian, Cal Young Middle School