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Shock Point and other books by April Henry are available via the following vendors or your favorite local independent bookseller.
home > books>shock point > reviews
PRAISE FOR SHOCK POINTShock Point was a finalist for the ALA's Teens Top 10 award. The books are chosen and voted on by teens.
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Texas Library Association includes Shock Point on the Young Adult Round Table’s 2007-2008 Tayshas Reading List. Tayshas is a project whose objective is to “motivate young adults to become life-long readers and to participate in the community of readers in Texas.”
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“The latest variation on the ‘teens in peril’ scenario is used by April Henry in Shock Point. Cassie Streng’s world has already been badly shaken by her mother’s divorce and subsequent remarriage and pregnancy. Now Cassie has been kidnapped and hauled off to a remote school in Mexico, supposedly because she has a supply of crystal meth under her bed. Cassie suspects that her step-father, a child psychiatrist with a connection to a major drug company’s testing program, may want her out of the way after she starts asking questions about the deaths of some of her high school classmates. Her remote father and feckless mother are no help, and Cassie must escape from prison, get back to California, and face down her tormentor on her own, before more youngsters are endangered. Many of the scenes are disturbing, but Cassie is a fearless and resourceful heroine, who will surely have teen readers rooting for her to come out ahead and foil the plots of one of the most villainous stepfathers since Mr. Murdstone sent little David Copperfield to the bottling factory.”
—Mystery Scene Magazine, Summer 2006—————
“Popular adult mystery author, April Henry, ventures into the YA genre with the publication of her latest novel “Shock Point,” (Putnam, 2006, $16.99, Ages 12 and Up). Fifteen-year-old Cassie Streng’s new stepfather, Rick, is a well-known child psychiatrist. He and Cassie have never been close. But when Cassie discovers that Rick has been prescribing an experimental drug to his patients, a drug that may have killed three of his former patients, Cassie finds herself thrown in the back of a van and shipped off to a school for troubled teens in Mexico before she can go public with her suspicions. Rick has convinced Cassie’s mom that Cassie has a drug problem and that Peaceful Cove is a wonderful facility with staff that can help Cassie. In reality, Peaceful Cove is a horrible prison from which there is no escape. But if Cassie doesn’t find a way out, more of Rick’s patients could die. Fast-paced and suspenseful, this is a good book for reluctant readers.”
—Cedar Rapids Gazette, March 06—————
“Many teens have conflicts with their stepparents, but Cassie's problems with her mother's new husband, Rick, take a decidedly violent twist when she is thrown into the back of a van. Although Rick has convinced Cassie's mother that the 15-year-old needs a stint at a Mexican boot camp for at-risk youth to straighten her out, Cassie knows why he wants her out of the picture. Rick, a psychiatrist, has been treating his patients with an experimental drug called Socom. Several of his teen patients have suffered delusions that led to their deaths while taking the medicine, but Rick would rather hide that information. After all, he stands to make a fortune once the drug hits the market, as long as no one makes that connection. And no one will, once Cassie's away. Peaceful Cove is, for all intents and purposes, a sort of pseudo-prison for problem kids. Because it is entirely unregulated, the staff makes its own harsh rules. For the most part, the kids just try to survive. But Cassie knows she has to do more than survive. After all, if she does not get out and spread the word about Socom, more teens might die. April Henry's suspenseful novel is fraught with tension from page one. 2006, GP Putnam's Sons/Penguin, Ages 13 to 18.”
—Children's Literature, Heidi Hauser Green—————
“A hot summer read.” —Salem Monthly
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Teensread.com named Shock Point a “cool new book”!
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From School Library Journal
“Grade 7 Up—Cassie Streng, 16, knows that her psychiatrist stepfather, Rick, prescribed an experimental drug for his teenage patients, three of whom have committed suicide. Before she can gather evidence, however, she is grabbed by two men, handcuffed, locked in the back of a van, and taken to Peaceful Cove, a facility for troubled teens in Mexico. Rick has assured her mother that the place is an excellent boarding school—he maintains that he found crystal meth in Cassie's room—but she soon discovers the truth. She is trapped in a brutal prison camp, and she must make her way back to Oregon and convince someone of the danger Rick represents before anyone else dies. While the premise is a bit over the top, Cassie is a strong and sympathetic character who relies on her wits and determination from the very first page. Short chapters that show how she uncovers her stepfather's actions alternate with the story of her journey from Portland to Mexico, a nicely executed technique that keeps the plot moving and readers engaged. While the secondary characters are a little flat and the ending is a bit too neat, Henry packs her first YA novel with the quick action and suspense that will keep even reluctant readers turning the pages.”
–Beth Gallego, Los Angeles Public Library, North Hollywood—————
“When Cassie Streng comes home from school one day, she is abducted by two rough strangers. She fights them, screaming, until her mother arrives and proceeds to hand Cassie's suitcase to the men. Cassie's stepfather, Rick, tells her he's found crystal meth hidden in her room and that she will find the help she needs where she's headed. But Cassie has never used drugs and knows that Rick must have planted the meth. Unable to believe this is happening to her, she's shackled into the back of her captors' van as her parents watch.
In a flashback Cassie discovers that Rick, a psychiatrist, has been administering an experimental drug to his troubled teen patients; three of them committed suicide. When Cassie confides in her classmate, Thatcher, he hatches a plan to show Rick's incriminating records to a newspaper reporter. They must tell people the truth about the drug, and thereby prevent more deaths.
However, before the two can get an adult to listen seriously to them, Rick has arranged for Cassie to be shanghaied to Peaceful Cove, a brutal boot camp in Mexico for teenagers with behavior problems. Peaceful Cove is more like a prison than a school or a camp. Cassie's clothes and other personal belongings are taken from her. She's locked in a closet-sized room and warned that armed guards, barbed wire, and a 200-foot cliff will keep her from escaping. Cruel punishments are commonplace. And it's all legal, because her parents signed the contract.
Not only is Cassie totally cut off from the world, she must learn a million rules. She can't cross her legs when she sits. She can't wear her hair down. She can't raise her eyes. She can't talk, sit, or stand without permission. Cassie soon finds out that her incarceration is sure to last months if not years. However, if she doesn't escape and expose her stepfather's use of the experimental drug, more kids are likely to die. Cassie soon has a friend, and a plan…but how can the plan possibly work?
SHOCK POINT is a riveting tale of survival and determination, chockfull of suspense and urgency. Fair warning: once you start reading, you will find it nearly impossible to close the book until the very end.”
—Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon, teenreads.com—————
“Henry's (the Claire Montrose mystery series) first YA thriller is a suspenseful tale of betrayal. As the novel opens, 10th-grader Cassie is kidnapped in her own driveway as her mother and psychiatrist stepfather, Rick, not only stand by and watch, but also hand the men a suitcase. Chapters alternate from the present to the events of the past few days, during which Cassie has uncovered Rick's files about teen patients who had committed suicide while on a drug called Socom (in which he has a heavy financial investment). Consequently, Rick plants drugs in Cassie's room to convince her mother that the girl belongs in a school for troubled teens in Mexico. The place is a like a prison. Cassie and nearly 200 other teenagers are not allowed to talk; they must abide by a rigid set of dehumanizing rules, and are cruelly punished if they do not comply. The supporting characters may be two-dimensional (when Cassie's sole friend walks her home, Rick says, “Is that really the kind of young man you want to be associating with? Research shows that a child's friends can have a significant impact on academic standing and social labeling”), but the alternating chapters help to build suspense. The meat of the story is Cassie's attempt to escape. She is an appealing, resourceful character struggling against too many odds—and readers may well stick with this tale to see if she succeeds. Ages 12-up.”
—Publishers Weekly—————
“The wicked stepmother motif is altered to wicked stepfather in this contemporary chiller. Cassie, 16, has suffered a year of upheavals: her parents' divorce, her mother's remarriage and new pregnancy, and the discovery that her stepfather's psychiatric practice revolves around an experimental drug that may have led to the suicides of several of his teen patients. Leading off is a horrific scene of Cassie's abduction, masterminded by her stepfather, who planted crystal meth in her room and arranged for her to be taken to a juvenile “rehabilitation” center. Organization is a strong point here. In the first part, Henry effectively shuttles between Cassie's imprisonment and the discoveries that lead to it. In the second part, Cassie must free herself and obtain evidence to save other teens from the deadly drug—all but impossible tasks in the Dickensian atmosphere of the teen facility. Along with solid plotting and suspense comes a likable heroine who is a good match for the nefarious adults in her life.”
—Booklist, Feb. 1, 2006—————
“quick moving…may appeal to a wide range of young readers and could be useful for reluctant readers.”
—Kirkus Review—————
“Ms. Henry brings her considerable gift for suspenseful writing to young adults with this can't-put-it-down thriller. Cassie is a teenager who lives with her weak willed mother and overbearing step-dad, Rick, a psychologist who works with troubled teens. Rick is prescribing an experimental drug to his patients, and Cassie has discovered that Rick's files contain evidence that some of them have died. Then Rick finds her snooping in his files. Coming home from school one afternoon, Cassie suddenly finds herself brutally tied up, shoved into the back of a van, and carried away as her mother watches apologetically. She is driven to “Peaceful Cove,” a brutal “boot camp” in Mexico, where she is held with other teens whose parents think it's a wonderful place to shape up their willful children. The truth is it's a brutal prison run by sadists, and there is no possible escape. Recommended for grades seven and up.”
—Ingram Children's and Teen Librarian~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
