(3) 4-6 Barry Allen, also known as superhero speedster The Flash, races to the sixty-fourth century to confront the reality-bending menace Hocus Pocus on his home turf. Back home in twenty-first-century Central City, Kid Flash and the rest of Barry's friends hunt down Earthworm, a sewer-dwelling villain. This installment closes the spinoff trilogy from TV's The Flash with more campy action and superhero-adjacent science concepts.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(3) 4-6 Speedy superhero The Flash--or Barry Allen, as he's known to his supportive team of friends--faces magical mind-control (Hocus Pocus) and a backwards, Multiverse version of our world (Johnny Quick). The appropriately fast-paced series relies on classic superhero action while integrating some science concepts. These novel spin-offs of TV's The Flash should appeal to both casual readers and hardcore fans of the new DC canon. Review covers these titles: The Flash: Hocus Pocus and The Flash: Johnny Quick.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(3) YA Having lived with the knowledge that, as a four-year-old, he accidentally shot and killed his baby sister, Sebastian plans to commit suicide--soon. Aneesa, a new friend unaware of his past, makes him question this plan, and her experiences with bigotry (she is Muslim) expand his worldview. Lyga takes on grief, guilt, faith, prejudice, and gun violence in this moving page-turner.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(3) 4-6 Speedy superhero The Flash--or Barry Allen, as he's known to his supportive team of friends--faces magical mind-control (Hocus Pocus) and a backwards, Multiverse version of our world (Johnny Quick). The appropriately fast-paced series relies on classic superhero action while integrating some science concepts. These novel spin-offs of TV's The Flash should appeal to both casual readers and hardcore fans of the new DC canon. Review covers these titles: The Flash: Hocus Pocus and The Flash: Johnny Quick.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(4) YA A ghostly voice leads three friends to an underground portal to a parallel world. Zak, believing the voice is his long-dead twin, follows it unquestioningly toward destruction. Khalid learns about "wild science," a.k.a. magic. Meanwhile, Moira is horribly mistreated by the world's hyper-misogynistic populace. This dystopia-meets-ghost-story has a few too many plot elements and not enough nuance to be entirely satisfying.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher

(4) YA With Peter Facinelli and Robert DeFranco. On a scavenging run, orphaned teenager Deedra saves an unusual boy named Rose from drowning. Rose soon influences all aspects of Deedra's life, including her factory job and government-bred beliefs, and she grapples with his mutant-like powers and status as a murder suspect. The relationship between the protagonists is unconvincing, but the authors enliven a believable post-apocalyptic dystopia with moments of blockbuster action.

Reviewer: Jenn Matters

(2) YA I Hunt Killers series. This trilogy-ender begins with a bang: Jazz (son of serial killer Billy Dent) has been shot and trapped; hemophiliac best friend Howie is in the ER; and girlfriend Connie is being held captive by Billy himself. The teens fight to reunite and take down Billy, uncovering more gruesome secrets about Jazz's family. The previous books raised tantalizing questions--Lyga delivers with a vengeance.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2015

(3) 4-6 Sick of his heroic acts being misinterpreted as villainy, Kyle (Archvillain; The Mad Mask) decides to travel back in time to right the past. But as he departs, a zombie-type plague infects his hometown and a malfunction strands Kyle in 1987; he must figure out how to return to save the present day. Morally complex, Kyle's quest for redemption is engaging.

Reviewer: Randy Ribay

(2) YA Jazz (I Hunt Killers) travels to the big city to review the evidence of a serial killer (like his father) with a double digit body count; girlfriend Connie follows--and soon both are sucked into the killer's "game." Suspense and plot twists will satisfy thriller fans, but Jazz's struggle to unlearn his father's macabre life lessons is as compelling as the murder mystery.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2013

(2) YA Four years ago, Jazz's father was convicted of over one hundred and twenty murders. Now Jazz hopes to stop whoever is re-creating those murders. Lyga explores compelling questions of nature, nurture, and free will in Jazz, who has more heart and conscience than he thinks. The biggest strength of this taut thriller is the engrossing mystery of the killer's identity--and what Jazz will do when he finds him.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2012

(3) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Kyle continues his crusade against superhero (and extraterrestrial) Mighty Mike by teaming up with newcomer the Mad Mask, who is planning to build an unstoppable robot. However, Kyle soon discovers that the Mad Mask plans to wipe him out as well. Kyle's petty jealousies belie his "genius," and the narrative cleverly underscores an unlikable antihero in the process.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(3) YA Illustrated by Colleen Doran. A rip in the fabric of the universe brings Ryoko, a character from a Japanese manga comic, into the real, Western world of this graphic novel, where he attempts to pass as normal in a typical high school. Ryoko is illustrated using manga conventions and style which not only causes him to be the ultimate outsider but makes for humorous metafiction to readers familiar with Japanese comics.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(3) 4-6 Intelligent, popular, egotistical prankster Kyle finds himself with superpowers after celestial plasma lands on Earth, bringing with it an amnesiac superhuman named Mike. Rather than exposing Mike for the extraterrestrial that he is, Kyle goes out of his way to become Mike's nemesis. The entertaining antihero narrative reads like an elaborate backstory for the real adventures yet to come in future volumes.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(2) YA Six months have passed since the events of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. Kyra, released from a mental hospital, resents Fanboy's lack of communication while she was away. She also must come to terms with her mother's death and her sexual identity. Lyga's voice is so believable and his characters so distinctive that readers will be captivated.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2010

(3) YA When Kevin saves popular-girl Leah from a serial killer, he is instantly elevated from nobody to hero. He's then demoted to pariah after removing patriotic magnets from his car. The ensuing debate over true patriotism proves particularly relevant to Kevin's father, a veteran. Kevin's questionable motives and family troubles spice up a thoughtful, timely free-speech parable.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(4) YA Josh faces a senior year complicated by parental discord and a persistent old flame--then his seventh-grade teacher is released from jail, where she was sentenced for molesting him. Josh is a complex, heart-tugging character, and the narrative is strongest when exploring his current internal life rather than the more issue-driven flashback sequences and borderline-misogynistic depictions of female characters.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(4) YA Alienated from peers and parents alike, Donnie loses himself in comic books and willfully ignores the rest of the world--until Kyra, a troubled "goth girl," unexpectedly befriends him. Though the abrupt ending is a letdown, providing scant explanation for Kyra's neuroses, Donnie's conflicts are resolved with a satisfying suggestion of growth that chides his complacency without diminishing his problems.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross