Endangered

February 23, 2015
Nicknamed “Panda” at school because of her mixed-race heritage, Lauren Daniels has yet another identity. On her anonymous photo-blog, Gray Scales, Panda exacts a mixture of revenge and justice on teachers and students who earn her wrath, taking incriminating photos and uploading them for all to see. After someone catches her in the act, Panda is left on the wrong side of a terrible game of blackmail and photographic one-upmanship, one with real consequences for herself, those she has exposed, and those she cares about. Giles (Fake ID) crafts an unpredictable psychological thriller filled with murky choices and colorful characters. It’s not hard to connect this story to social justice movements online or the crusading aspect of Anonymous, making it a timely and unsettling story. While the levels of misery get quite high, Giles also keeps redemption and help within reach for most of the characters. The novel’s strength rests in its underlying moral complexity and in its resourceful heroine, who bounces back from some well-meaning mistakes. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jamie Weiss Chilton, Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

January 15, 2015
A teen vigilante finds the tables turned when a mysterious correspondent uncovers her secret identity.During the day, Lauren Daniels, better known at school as Panda, tries to stay unnoticed. At night, she becomes Gray, a skilled and daring photographer who captures incriminating or humiliating pictures of high school bullies and posts them to her anonymous website. (Regrettably, the homophobic undertones of two of Gray's posts go largely unremarked upon.) Furious that popular Keachin Myer attacked a disabled classmate, Panda follows Keachin and hits photographic pay dirt. That night, she receives an email from someone called SecretAdm1r3r with incriminating photos of Panda herself photographing Keachin. From then on, the game's afoot: SecretAdm1r3r's taunting messages at first dare Panda to take risky photographs but quickly move into more sinister territory. When SecretAdm1r3r hints that something will happen to Keachin and Keachin turns up dead the next day, Panda cuts ties, at her own cost. "We're all something we don't know we are," Panda tells readers, and though the mystery takes center stage, Panda also learns important truths about her own shortcomings. The cast is refreshingly racially diverse (Panda herself is mixed-race and looks it on the cover), and though some of the attempts at misdirecting sleuthing-inclined readers are more successful than others, frequent plot twists and short, fast-moving sentences keep tension high. Suspenseful and often wise. (Thriller. 14 & up)

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January 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-Lauren "Panda" Daniels likes to blend in. No one notices her, or suspects that she is responsible for the immensely popular anonymous photoblog that catches people from her high school in compromising positions. The teen considers herself "karma personified." When an online secret admirer discovers her identity, Lauren is scared she will be busted. Instead, her admirer expresses an interest in photography and challenges Lauren to "top" a magnificent photograph. Lauren is intrigued, until the subject of her latest post is killed and her admirer emails Lauren a picture of the dead body. Lauren realizes that she may have to own up to her blog, face its ugly aftermath, and cooperate with the boy who ruined her high school life to prevent more deaths and catch a killer. Giles's protagonist undertakes high-intensity, dangerous endeavors in a contemporary-realistic setting, but (refreshingly) does not escape very real, personal consequences. There is also some skillful character development in this book, as many of the assumptions that Lauren introduces in the beginning are slowly deconstructed and examined over the course of the story. Mei delivers a harsh wake-up call to Lauren about her habit of constant playful teasing, and how she uses it as "camouflage" so no one will suspect her blogger-identity. Overall this book is a dynamic, dangerously suspenseful, contemporary adventure that also leaves room for introspective soul-searching.-Sara White, Seminole County Public Library, Casselberry, FL

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2015
Lauren, sneeringly called Panda by her classmates (both because she loves pandas and because she's biracial), leads a double life as Gray, a vigilante photographer who exposes her cruelest classmates' dirty secrets via an anonymous blog. But after she photographs mean girl Keachin in a compromising position with a popular gym teacher, Lauren learns that she has her own stalker. As the situation with Keachin spirals into murder, Lauren's mysterious "Admirer" goads her with a series of photographic dares until it becomes clear the two plots are linked. The escalating game of cat-and-mouse unfolds with unremitting tension as the stakes rise; Giles's willingness to break with common suspense tropes (for instance, Lauren reveals the situation to her parents fairly early on) gives the plot extra layers of both realism and unpredictability. Meanwhile, Lauren's character is a masterful blend of vengeance and innocence; Giles manages to present her sympathetically while still inviting readers to question her perspective at every turn. The resulting exploration of good and evil, justice and culpability, and anger and guilt gives this psychological thriller the thematic and emotional depth to match its full-throttle plot. A strong choice for lovers of suspense. claire e. gross

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)