Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Grace

Jeff's older brother is coming home from prison after five years. When he was a teenager, Troy had killed another teen, and was supposed to serve a life sentence, but got out on a technacality. Jeff is bitter and resentful toward Troy when he comes home, not believing his parents' assurances that Troy has changed for the better. He knows that Troy is manipulative and can get his parents to believe what he wants them too. When people find out about Troy, Jeff's almost-perfect life begins to fall apart. His girlfriend, Beth isn't allowed to talk to him and starts hanging out with the "Golden Boy", Tom Fraser. Jeff becomes more and more jealous of Fraser and gets into a fight with him. Troy comes to save Jeff, but after the fight, Fraser disappears. Right away, Jeff suspects that Troy had something to do with it, and as he gets closer to his brother, he's certain. He just needs to prove it.

Dark Angel is a suspenseful "who-dunnit" story, but it's not so much as a "mystery" story. I couldn't wait to find out if Troy was guilty or not. At first, I fell for Troy's good-guy act, but towards the end of the book you can see he's never changed and is always going to be evil by nature. The subplot with Jeff's bio teacher, Mr. Tsuyuki, adds to Jeff's confused feeling over good vs. evil. This a good book for any teen.