The Twelve-Fingered Boy (The Twelve-Fingered Boy Trilogy)
*Starred Review* At long last, here is a superhero story for the rest of us. Streetwise Shreve, 15, is serving a two-year stint in juvie, but at least his sideline—dealing candy—keeps things interesting. Enter new roommate Jack, a haunted 13-year-old (a “titty-baby” in juvie terms) rumored to have killed his parents and put five kids into the hospital. Jack has 12 fingers. That’s weird. Even weirder? When angered, he can “go explodey”—psychically hurl people across the room. No wonder other parties are, shall we say, interested. Mr. Quincrux, an ominously bland fellow in a black suit, arrives to mentally invade the minds of Jack and Shreve and in the process accidentally lends Shreve a similar ability. What follows is miles away from the superhero battles you’re expecting. After the two boys bust out, they live the desperate existence of itinerate thieves as they struggle to control superpowers fueled by pain. Jacobs’ storytelling has the effortless velocity of early Dean Koontz, and his prose is textured with hard-boiled grit: each kid’s supernatural flexing causes nosebleeds and vomiting, not to mention the realistic mangling of innocent people. An expertly spiced stew of attitude, humor, horror, and grief—and with a movie-ready plot to boot. Sequels? Probably. Let’s make that hopefully. Grades 9-12. --Daniel Kraus