Reading Level: Young Adult

Award-winnng writer Graham McNamee's latest book, Acceleration, is a thriller that is hard to put down until the last page is turned. Seventeen-year-old Duncan’s summer job in the Toronto subway's lost and found department bores him silly until he stumbles across a diary that has ended up in the piles of lost books. At first he thinks the unknown writer is just another weirdo, but as he reads further, he sees the writer has plans—he’s hunting for victims, girls he sees riding the subway, and Duncan becomes convinced the diary is a blueprint for murder.

The previous summer, Duncan attempted to save a drowning girl, and his failure to do so haunts him still. This time, he intends to succeed. When the police seem disinterested, Duncan enlists the aid of his best friend Vinny who says, "Me and you going after this guy—it's like the Hardy Boys meet Hannibal Lecter." Scared but determined, they’re on their own, and time may have already run out.

The plot moves the book along at a fast pace, but it is McNamee's masterful touch with his characters and their relationships that make this book a standout. The dialogue rings absolutely true, and he knows unmistakably how these seventeen-year-olds think and feel. Acceleration is a winner in all ways.

— Kay Morris