Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2003 (Vol. 71, No. 6))
A disturbing foray into a contemporary America where protection and safety have become labels for repression and murder. In the wake of a killing spree at a school 50 miles away, rules begin to change at Central High. Supposed grief counselor Dr. Willner replaces the old principal, and immediately backpacks are searched, books banned, and clothing regulated. The color red is strictly forbidden (because the killers at the other school wore it), and when one girl refuses to remove the red ribbon she wears in memory of her deceased brother, she is sent away from school-and never returns. Other students and one teacher also disappear as Dr. Willner becomes ever more sinister. "Bus TV," broadcast during the ride to school, shows revisionist history. Parents neglect to protest even their own children's disappearances, seemingly because they have been brainwashed by incessant e-mails from the school administration. Across the country, detention camps have been set up where entire groups of teenagers are sent and possibly murdered. Ongoing references to Stalinist Russia and to the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers supply metaphors for the unrecognizably evil and passive adults. The end offers no hint of what will happen next as the remaining main characters flee the town in fear for their lives. Because the narrative is kept faithfully inside the protagonist's mind, readers are skillfully left just as unsettled, frightened, and confused as he is himself, about both the future and the nature of what exactly is going on. Could have been even scarier if the administrative power had snowballed rather than possessing total control from the beginning, but still an unsettling piece for modern times. 2003, HarperCollins, $15.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 13 up. © 2003 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Claire Rosser (KLIATT Review, March 2003 (Vol. 37, No. 2))
This suspenseful story takes place in a high school after a violent shooting incident (like the one at Columbine High School) occurs in a nearby community. Tom and his friends--called the smart jocks--are the main characters, each one reacting quite believably to the changes in their school after this event. The security is immediately tightened: backpacks are searched, as are lockers. A new person called a grief counselor takes charge and makes new rules. Dissent is not allowed. Random drug tests begin. A favorite teacher disappears. Students who don't cooperate with the authorities are taken away to special camps called turnaround centers, and they are never heard from or seen again. Parents get nightly e-mails from the school and they change personalities--are they being brainwashed somehow? Frequent references are made by Tom and his friends to the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers because the teenagers begin to feel there has been an invasion of sorts...they don't understand what or how. Paranoia builds and the teenagers learn slowly that things are actually worse than their worst fears. The story works, even if in the end it seems closer to SF than to realistic fiction--well, a Ray Bradbury kind of SF. The kinds of rules at the high school are ones that most teenagers would recognize as familiar. There is no reference to 9/11 and Homeland Security, so I'm not sure if Prose is trying to make a larger point about loss of civil liberties in the name of security and where that could lead eventually. She keeps this tightly in the realm of high school culture and high school authority--controlling adolescents. Of course, that is a theme with enormous appeal for most YAs. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS--Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2003, HarperCollins, 330p., $15.99. Ages 12 to 18.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July 2003 (Vol. 56, No. 11))
A fatal shooting at nearby Pleasant Valley High School has sent Central High into a state of heightened alert, and clinical psychologist Dr. Willner has come on board to establish and implement a new security plan. At first Tom Bishop and most of his classmates are, at worst, annoyed by metal detectors and mandatory school assemblies; only kids like stoner Silas with something to hide are truly upset. However, as Willner draws tightened reins into a stranglehold over the school, protests begin to mount and the protesters, from academic stars to teaching staff, begin to disappear. A steady stream of email to school parents assures them that everything is done in the students’ best interest, and even when kids are pulled from school and sent off to rehabilitation camps, the brainwashed parents are convinced that no measure is too drastic to ensure the safety of Central High. Tom is finally able to convince his father, who has largely ignored Willner’s emails, to take the situation seriously, and when they discover that Pleasant Valley has now been vacated and closed and all its students gone missing, they manage to flee before Tom becomes another of Willner’s victims. Prose leaves some substantial holes gaping in her plot--particularly the nature of the email brainwashing and the total disappearance of a student body that’s been much in the national news. Readers who squander their time probing these shortcomings, however, will miss a whole boatload of X-Files-styled, paranoiac thrills. Dr. Willner will be floating through many a teen nightmare. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2003, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2003, Cotler/HarperCollins, 330p, $17.89 and $16.99. Grades 7-10.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2003)
After a deadly shooting, Central High calls in a grief and crisis counselor, who offers no counseling but institutes some stringent new rules. Narrator Tom's stoner friend has conspiracy-theory obsessions, which soon become the novel's reality. The story's over-the-top quality keeps it from any aspiration to seriousness, but the melodrama will surely be enjoyed by fans of kids-against-the-world books. Category: Older Fiction. 2003, HarperCollins/Cotler, 330pp, $16.99, $17.89. Ages 12 to 14. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Sherrie Williams (VOYA, June 2003 (Vol. 26, No. 2))
Following a student shooting rampage at a nearby school, Tom Bishop and the students at Central High are shaken but unaware of the dramatic changes they will soon face. Dr. Willner, a grief counselor, arrives and establishes an increasingly complicated list of rules in the name of school safety. Metal detectors and random drug tests are followed by more extreme restrictions. Certain books and music are barred, and student work is censored. Some students sent to reeducation camps to learn more socially appropriate behaviors instead die during escape attempts. Teachers and even the school's principal disappear after failing to report student infractions to Dr. Willner. Tom longs to return to life as it was before the shootings, but he cannot escape the deadly aftermath. This remarkable book compels the reader along as events quickly grow to a more disturbing level. The balance between individual rights and the safety of the larger group is an important topic, particularly in post-September 11 America. This book is National Book Award finalist Prose's first young adult work, and it is an excellent entry into the genre. The characters are realistically drawn, and their escalating loss of freedom is told in a believable way. Vivid and memorable, it moves at a fast pace despite its length. It would be an excellent candidate for discussion in a reading group. Highly recommended for high school and public libraries, it is a book that readers will not soon forget. PLB $16.89. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2003, HarperCollins, 336p, $15.99. Ages 12 to 18.