Holding Smoke

February 15, 2016
Leaving his actual body behind in prison, Smoke can move through the world as a ghost in this fantastic yet real portrait of a survivor seeking answers. John "Smoke" Conlan has survived a brutal beating from his father, a murder conviction, and prison life. His uncanny ability evidently triggered by the beating, Smoke exists inside and outside the fictional Greater Denver Youth Offender Rehabilitation Center (unrealistically represented as a maximum security prison). Smoke keeps his physical body protected on the inside thanks to the balance of favors earned outside his body. On one such errand, he discovers that a young waitress at a seedy dive can actually see him. Smoke's vivid present-tense narration is filtered according to his concerns. He insists that he is innocent of killing his favorite teacher but guilty of killing a fellow student in self-defense, keeping readers teetering between a belief that the punishment is justified and cheering Smoke on to fight for freedom. The narrative's romance is chaste, and it tempers the intensity brought to the story by the threats of guards, fellow inmates, and outside criminals. Though the complex plot is based on an impossible premise, readers will be flipping the pages, watching the diverse cast (Smoke is white) race toward the climax. Intertwined spectral and real worlds deliver double the thrills. (Paranormal suspense. 11-16)

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April 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-In juvenile detention, where John Conlan is serving time (he was convicted of a double murder but was spared from adult prison to avoid being near his father), he's known as Smoke and deals in information. Want to find out if your girl is faithful? If your mom is okay? Ask Smoke. His fellow inmates assume that he has strong connections on the outside, but the truth is he can go outside-sort of. A few years earlier, the teen was beaten to death by his father, then revived by the EMTs. He now exists somewhere between life and death and is able to leave his body and slip through the prison walls while everyone is sleeping. The tenuous grip his spirit has on his body is weakening, and he's beginning to think the information he digs up is doing more harm than good, so he's decided to quit his side job completely. When one of his last fact-finding missions leads him to a tough and alluring girl named Pink and he comes across some information that might point to who actually committed the crime he was accused of, Smoke realizes that he has to stay in the game, even though it's getting more dangerous by the day. The story plods along, and the gritty tone results in a feeling of coldness rather than suspense. VERDICT Descriptions of prison life and politics abound, which is the novel's greatest strength, but a slow pace and clunky turns of phrase make this thriller a secondary purchase.-Beth McIntyre, Madison Public Library, WI

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 John Conlan is known as Smoke to the inmates of the Y, a maximum-security juvenile-rehabilitation center, because he seems to have eyes and ears everywhere. In reality, Smoke is able to leave his body and spy invisibly on the friends, family, and enemies of the inmates and guards. He knows no one would believe the truth about his ability, just as no one believes that he didn't kill his English teacher. On one out-of-body journey, Smoke meets someone who can see him: Pink, a gutsy waitress at a dive bar. She is also a medium who might be able to help him find the real killer. This compelling paranormal mystery strikes the right balance between tense, realistic drama and pseudo ghost story, and Cosimano, a warden's daughter, brings authenticity to the depiction of prison life. As in many prison dramas, the difference between good guys and bad guys isn't set in stone; Smoke is a complicated, sympathetic character, and his redemption feels earned.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
John, imprisoned for a double murder for which he bears ambiguous guilt, uses his out-of-body ability (something like astral projection) to investigate the murders while gathering dirt on inmates and guards to trade for safety. Spoiler: the two are connected, somewhat too neatly. John's backstory, sparingly doled out, is well integrated into the central mystery, but secondary characters, particularly women, are shallowly written.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)