Novel Ink: Review: Circle of Silence by Carol M. Tanzman

Format – e-ARC from Netgalley

Publisher- Harlequin Teen

Pages- 304

Publication Date- July 24, 2012

Buy this Book- Amazon

From Goodreads:

THE BIGGEST STORY OF MY LIFE COULD BE HOW IT ENDS It's my turn to run a "Campus News" crew, and I've put together a team that can break stories wide open. And Washington Irving High has a truly great one to cover, if only we can find a lead.

A secret society has formed in our school. It announced its presence with pranks: underwear on the flagpole, a toilet in the hallway, cryptic notes. A circle of silence keeps the society a mystery. No one knows its members, agenda or initiation secrets-until a student lands in the hospital under "strange" circumstances.

I "will" blow this story wide open and stop others from being hurt...or worse. And while my ex, Jagger, might want to help, I don't trust him yet. (And, no, not because of our past together. That is "not" important to this story.)

But whether you find me, Valerie Gaines, reporting in front of the camera, or a victim in the top story of the newscast...be sure to watch "Campus News" at 9:00 a.m. this Friday.

"This addicting, thrilling mystery hits upon many of our worst fears."-"Booklist "on "dancergirl"

Review:

Valerie Gaines is a senior at Washington Irving High School; she’s also the producer for Campus News! A school news segment that advanced TV production students direct and produces, it airs during class once a week. Val’s team winds up working on a story about a group of pranksters (MP) that have recently showed up. At first the pranks seem like harmless fun, but as time goes on, they change; they get bolder with each prank. When Val gets a little too close for comfort for MP, they start targeting her; sending her emails telling her to back off and when she doesn’t they put something disgusting in her locker. Only the threats have the opposite effect; they only make Val want to crack the case of MP’s identity even more.

The MP put out a box for applications for new members and when the first initiation goes wrong, Val starts getting anonymous tips about the MP and how dangerous they are getting and when a person one her team gets an invitation to join, they have to figure out a way to keep him from getting hurt like the first person, only all of their planning doesn’t work and he gets pretty badly hurt.

The characters were wonderful. Valerie was easy to connect to; she’s strong, determined and not afraid to stand up for what she believes is right. A lot of people back down when threatened, but she stood her ground. I wasn’t sure what to think of Jagger at first, when he shows up in TV Production we learn that he broke Val’s heart, but I later realized that he’s truly sorry for what he did and that he really does care for Val.

I must admit that I speculated throughout this whole book about who was in the mysterious MP group, and normally I’m pretty good about guessing whose keeping secrets and who the bad guys are but with this book not one person I was suspicious of was involved in any way at all. The identity of the anonymous tipper from the MP group will shock you. Circle of Silence is a quick and enjoyable read that has just enough mystery to keep you entertained from the beginning to the end.