cover image The Lie

The Lie

Laura Sonnenmark. Scholastic, $13.95 (181pp) ISBN 978-0-590-44740-9

Norrie, 15, is determined to snare Mark, a handsome high-school senior. She's been unsuccessful so far, despite assorted ploys to attract the popular boy's attention. Learning photography, his passion, may pay off, though; she'll be snapping tourists' pictures with him this summer in their hometown of Ocean City, Md. But Mark considers his co-worker a child, until he keeps seeing Norrie with her visiting cousin's Adonis-like husband. Concluding that the two are dating, Mark becomes jealous, and Norrie won't correct his erroneous assumption with victory so close. This heroine's zany narrative has a contemporary tone and timeless premise about obsessive love. Yet the pace sometimes flags, and the dialogue, injected with several expletives, is marred by unnatural lines. Sonnenmark ( Something's Rotten in the State of Maryland ) adheres to a well-worn notion: that one's object of desire is often undeserving. Her main character is not particularly inspiring--a flawed featherweight who reveals the truth only when pressed and becomes inebriated at a party although she dislikes liquor. Norrie's foibles may win sympathetic readers, however, and perhaps they'll benefit from her mistakes. Ages 12-up. (May)