Terry and the Pirates

Thompson (A Band of Angels) writes a fast-paced and pleasingly far-fetched adventure story. When 16-year-old Terry learns that her parents plan to send her to boarding school, she decides to stow away on the ship of millionaire adventurer Maitland Crane. But to her shock, it's Maitland's stuttering son Mick (named for Mick Jagger) steering the boat--he's stolen the vessel to get attention from his neglectful dad. When a severe storm lands Terry on Isla Muela Negro (Black Molar Island) in the Bermuda Triangle (with Mick presumably overboard), she becomes prisoner to a group of pirates. She must pretend to play along with their ransom scheme and plan an escape before the marauders make her into ""fish food."" Thompson throws in an inexplicable twist: Mick's split personality (sometimes he's a smooth-talking 15th-century French marquis from one of his past lives) shifts gears at random. Yet the outlandish plot and the outrageous group of bandits make this story work. Short Bill Gold wears a powder blue leisure suit, and preteen twins Cherry and Buddy have been raised to think that drug-smuggler shoot-outs and plank walking are normal (""Dibbies on doing the blindfold,"" Cherry shouts when they take Terry captive). The romantic relationship between Terry and Mick is predictable, but well-developed, and readers will appreciate their mutual respect. All in all, this tale will elicit hearty laughter, and an as-yet-unrecovered buried treasure hints at a possible sequel. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)