reviewed by
LOLA SPARKS
Morganville, Texas is plumb full of evil. Technically, the sun doesn't even need to go down for it to come out. The college town is awash in badness and Claire Danvers has the misfortune of stumbling smack into some of the worst the place has to offer.
Claire is sixteen (almost seventeen), yet already in college. She loves books and learning, but school has become an unpleasant place for her thanks to Monica Morrell and her followers. Claire made Monica look stupid and now Monica is out to kill her.
Literally. Peer pressure ain't what it used to be; it seems no longer enough to mock or laugh; there is genuine bodily harm involved. Monica isn't afraid of shoving Claire down a long flight of stairs or having her burned her with acid.
Claire seeks off-campus housing and finds her way to the Glass House, inhabited by Eve, Shane, and Michael. They don't want her there because she's underage, but Claire worms her way into their life and becomes a fixture. She can cook tacos, so it seems she can stay. Besides, the two guys are hot and one is utterly mysterious. She wants to figure him out.
Mix in some vampires and a quest that seems to come from left field, and you have Caine's first YA novel. While the characters seem genuine, the world in which they exist seems less so. I had trouble believing in the strange rules which govern Morganville. Blood taxes, protection bracelets, curfews in which those outside after are free pickings for the vampires. I wanted it to make more sense than it did.
Caine returns to Morganville in spring 2007, with a book from Eve's point of view, The Dead Girls' Dance.
