Richie's Picks: Great Books for Children and Young Adults

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With WHAT HAPPENED TO CASS MCBRIDE, Gail Giles has penned the most powerful book of her career. A suspenseful, psychological thriller, I had a vanload of students absolutely riveted to my reading a few days ago when I provided them an extended taste of the book that'd kept me up until the early hours the night before.

CASS:

"David Kirby's funeral was this morning. I didn't go. It would look beyond strange if I did.
"I wasn't sure he'd done what he did because of that stupid note. I wish I hadn't left it lying around. Well, I wish I hadn't written it.
"But I guess David didn't show it to anyone. Threw it away or burned it maybe?
"I had one of those wild-monkeys-fighting-over-a-banana-inside-your-cranium headaches from worrying about it. I waited for Dad to go to bed then prowled his briefcase. He always had Xanax in there. Score. I took one. Then went back for another. This was two-Xan stress.
"I took a long, hot shower, setting the pulsing jets of water on masochist and stood so it could drum the back of my neck and shoulders. I rolled my head as the steam swirled around and the water sluiced over me. The pills might be kicking in. An empty stomach was a welcoming friend to drugs. Thank the Lord Dad was a hypocrite. While he preached to me, he sure didn't say no to online rip-off pharmacies. Hallelujah.
"Drugs definitely kicking in. I'd gone gospel in the shower. I got out and toweled off. I blow-dried my hair until it was damp thirty. My hair was dry enough so I slid into my nightclothes, pulled back the covers, and nestled in. I watched the play of the lamplight from the end of my fingers. Nice. Drugs can make the simplest thing so entertaining. I switched the lamp off and settled into the drug drowse. Deep breath. No dreams, Cass. No trees. No notes. No boys with big ears. Nothing."

David Kirby's big brother Kyle learned too late about the note Cass wrote, but he did find out all about it. The scathing note discussing David having the audacity to ask out the beautiful and popular Cass was meant for the eyes of Cass's best girlfriend. But it ended up in David Kirby's hands just days before David hung himself from a limb on the tree in his front yard.

Now, when Cass awakens from her drug-induced sleep, she will slowly come to the chilling realization that Kyle Kirby has kidnapped her and buried her alive with a crude air supply system and walkie talkie setup through which he can torture her for what she did to his brother.

WHAT HAPPENED TO CASS MCBRIDE changes time and perspective as we shift back and forth from Cass's time underground, to a colorful group of crackerjack cops desperately trying to unravel the inexplicable kidnapping of a wealthy businessman's daughter, to Kyle's later recounting for the police why and how he did what he did to Cass McBride.

With the pinpoint accuracy of a brain surgeon, Gail Giles deftly probes the lives and minds of Cass and Kyle along with that of the four parents who have so much to do with the places that Cass, Kyle, and David have ended up.

As a child I spent a lot of time doing plumbing repairs in some very tight, musty crawlspaces underneath old houses. The only instances of claustrophobia I recall experiencing have been at times when I was getting crushed near the stage during oversold standing room-only concerts. I've no doubt that there will be those for whom the author's sensory-filled descriptions of Cass's dark, narrow, earthy, urine-y wooden prison will be far too terrifying. But for me, it's a dark thrill of a read that may not be topped for a long time to come.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com