You do not kill a man in cold blood and then talk your way out of it. Other than her real name — Mary-Magdalene Feigenbaum — fifteen-year-old Maggie’s problems seem ordinary. She has tiffs with her too-critical mother, a crush on her cute psychologist, and worries that her only friend — fellow outcast Abigail — is morphing into a popular girl, leaving her behind. But Maggie has a few not-so-ordinary problems. A voice in her head is telling her to kill. And not just anyone. Each time the target is a person who has done something terrible to someone Maggie cares for. You know what you have to do, the voice commands. Maggie struggles to resist, but the voice is relentless. And as its demands escalate, her world begins to crumble. With rising suspense, this story of psychological horror introduces a narrator whose own unique voice and irreverent humor are unforgettable – an unlikely hero fighting a desperate battle against incomprehensible evil. Gr 9 Up-Shimko's book is billed as a psychological horror story, but readers will be torn between shaking with fear at the frightening parts and laughing at the absurd scenarios that don't quite succeed. Mary-Magdalene Feigenbaum, 15, describes why and how she killed her neighbor Lester's abusive father. She seems nonplussed about what she did except that she left a lighter with her mother's initials at the scene of the crime and is worried that she might get caught. She then murders another man by pushing him to his death and yet another by bludgeoning him with a rock. Maggie decides to do these deeds because of the voice in her head that says, "You know what you have to do." The men she kills are not sympathetic characters, but the voice also tells her to hurt innocent people. Maggie, whose father is in jail for killing his mother, has nightmares, so her mother sends her to a therapist, but the teen refuses to let on about what is really bothering her. Maggie goes about her normal routine, attending school, visiting with her best friend, hanging with her dog and stepfather. Then there is this other gruesome side of her life where she kills people. The ending offers only a slight redemption for the protagonist. In the times in which we live, it is impossible to recommend a story in which a teenager who kills three people ends with her reflecting on how she truly is a good person.-Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Jefferson, LAα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Not every YA novel kicks off with the protagonist burning her neighbor alive. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what Maggie, 15, is capable of. Maybe it’s not entirely her fault: a voice in her head urges her to kill those who have hurt others, and that voice is awfully persuasive. To everyone else—her schoolmates, her mom, her shrink—Maggie just seems a little bit off. But the numb, Joyce Carol Oates–like first-person narration shows that Maggie has mastered how to say the right things, regardless of the repellent visions darting through her brain. Each of her murders comes close to being found out, and therein lies the tension. Don’t mistake this for a thriller, though, for Shimko is on to something braver: an unapologetic, morally ambivalent look at a young sociopath who is, at the very least, bothered by her actions—she feels guilt, embarrassment, and fear just like anyone else. Is this American Psycho for teens? No, it doesn’t have quite that level of commitment. But it comes pretty close. Grades 9-12. --Daniel Kraus “Beginning with the protagonist burning her neighbor alive, this novel dares to take us into the numb and only occasionally guilty mind of Maggie, a 15-year-old sociopath. This could be the closest thing out there to a YA American Psycho.” – Booklist , Top 10 Horror Fiction for Youth, 2013 "Dexter meets Judy Blume! A valuable jumping off place for important conversations about social and ethical issues-all in the context of a high school girl's life." - Ellen Bass, author of The Human Line “Don’t mistake this for a thriller. Shimko is on to something braver: an unapologetic, morally ambivalent look at a young sociopath who is, at the very least, bothered by her actions. Is this American Psycho for teens?”— Daniel Kraus, Booklist March 2013 "All I can say (without it being a spoiler) is that I wish-oh, how I wish-that i'd written this myself! I'm still attempting to recover from the sock-in-the-stomach ending that I never saw coming." - Lois Duncan, author of I Know What You Did Last Summer “It’s a fast-moving tale with an engagingly complex protagonist…” - Kirkus Reviews February 2013 "It’s an intimate twist on the psychological thriller, equally suited to genre buffs and book club discussions." - The Horn Book Magazine July 2013 Bonnie Shimko is the author of The Private Thoughts of Amelia E. Rye , a 2011 ALA Best Book for YA and Letters